By , 02 March 2016, 16:45PM
Our borough has benefitted from almost £1billion of investment in the last few years alone, and so our region has never appealed more to the event bookers and buyers responsible for choosing where to host high profile events. We have one of the UK’s top five convention centres, our gorgeous 450-acre Town Park was recently voted as the best in the UK, and we have the perfect mix of accommodation, eateries, entertainment, and experiences, not to mention some jewels in our crown like the UNESCO World Heritage site at Ironbridge. So why do we need to focus on business extension?
Yes, we’ve seen exhibitions, events, expos, and shows covering every business or industrial sector imaginable, and each and every one of these has brought in business tourists from across the UK and overseas. And yes, business tourists spend an average £7 for every £1 a leisure tourist spends, so it’s understandable why we’d love more. But it’s not just about increasing the number of visitors – business or otherwise. Our strategy right now is focused firmly on how we encourage and empower business delegates to extend their stay and explore our region before they head home.
We’ve been working on this extension strategy and exploring how to better understand what it is that our delegates actually want, and a big part of this is the launch of our Visitor Economy Forum in partnership with the Telford Business Board.
As well as providing free business support to the tourism and hospitality sector, it’s focused around sharing best practice across our region, and encouraging accommodation, attraction, retail and service providers to collaborate and to work together to offer combined deals and packages.
Free to join, our Visitor Economy Forum will create a new business network and will empower our venues and service providers to support each other, enhance each other’s offer, and ultimately to gently market to each other’s clients for the benefit of the whole borough.
We’re already seen meal deals and discounted night stays offered to those attending an event, and incentivised access to attractions the next morning before heading home, but there are plenty more things coming on line soon.
Anyone interested in joining the forum can contact the team via email, on 01952 385523 or follow them on Twitter. What do you think? What extension strategy do you think we should be using? What venues and attractions would you love to see partner? Share your ideas in the comments below – we’d love to hear them.
CHARLOTTE CAIN
Destination Team Leader at Telford & Wrekin Council
