Agenda item

Joint Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships and the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services – Presented by the The Managing Director, VCD, Regeneration and Local Services.

The Chairman introduced the Managing Director, Visit County Durham (VCD), Michelle Gorman who was in attendance to give an update as regards the progress of recommendations from the Tourism Marketing Activity Undertaken by Visit County Durham Scrutiny Review Report (for copy see file of minutes).

The Managing Director, VCD referred Members to the report set out in the agenda pack and noted she would explain the key elements.  She noted that in relation to raising profile via partnership activities that “The Discover England Fund” was a world class product being delivered, and the Government had announced the programme with £40 million of funding in 2016.  It was noted VCD was a partner in 3 large scale bids: England’s Historic Cities – the Collection (£1.6 million); Manchester Gateway Project (£1.5 million); and the East of England Touring route – A1 (£1.4 million).  Members were informed of the North East Tourism Alliance and a list of partners, including Local Authorities, Visit England and Visit Britain amongst others.

The Committee noted that in terms of strategic destination marketing, VCD worked in partnership with strategic partners and tourism businesses, with two major campaigns: heritage / history in Spring; and outdoor activity in Autumn.  It was noted the main aims were to: raise the national profile and appeal of the county; encourage overnight stays, to increase spend; raise season occupancy; and to raise awareness of distinctive Durham experiences.

Members noted promotional activities in relation to the Heritage and Outdoor campaigns, with the impact that had been made, with 2.6 million impressions in relation to the heritage online content hub, and with Anita Rani from the BBC programme Countryfile featuring in promotional videos for outdoor campaigns, noting the variety of landscapes in the County from the Dales through to the Heritage Coast.  Councillors noted the Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and their first stargazing festival, which could be developed in terms of encouraging overnight stays.

The Managing Director, VCD noted the links in terms of transport and travel partners, as well as destination performance, with meetings with strategic partners (including the Port of Tyne) and Durham Cathedral and Bowes Museum featuring in the top four destinations for cruise ship passengers, an economic value of £806 million, up by 2% on 2015.  Members noted a further breakdown of performance in 2016, including a 3% increase in visitor numbers from 2015 and a split of 93% day visitors and 7% overnight stays.  It was noted that a 1% increase in day visitors since 2015 was disappointing, despite marketing campaigns, noting the need to help increase the number of places to stay and provide a critical mass in terms of more visitor products.  Members understood the limited budget and the competition in terms of more established tourism brands such as Yorkshire, Cumbria and Scotland.

The Managing Director, VCD informed Members of the issues in terms of Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) savings and the work undertaken in restructuring VCD in order to meet such demands, including looking to be more commercial with “Membership-lite”, to bring income back into the budget.  It was explained that the VCD website continued to go from strength-to-strength with over 1 million unique visitors, with the largest change being now around 50% of all traffic came from mobile devices.  Members were informed of a pitch for Durham in relation to the James Martin “Great British Adventures” television series.  The Committee were reminded of the continued promotion of our local events, such as Lumiere, the Durham book Festival, the Bishop Auckland Food Festival and Kynren amongst others.

The Managing Director, VCD explained in terms of championing the tourism / visitor economy: the draft regional “Case for Tourism”, from the North East Tourism Alliance; tourism in 2016 having contributed £3.4 billion to the economy of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area; and tourism in the North East employing more than 55,000 people.  It was explained that there were three key roles in terms of driving the regional economy forward: the resilience of the sector provides consistency during difficult economic periods; tourism creates employment; and tourism develops a positive image to encourage people to live, work and invest in the North East.

The Chairman thanked the Managing Director, VCD and asked what the current staffing arrangements were at VCD.

The Managing Director, VCD noted there were 16 members of staff, 2 casual and 1 part-time.  The Chairman added that what was achieved with that level of staffing was excellent and it was reassuring that issues that had been previously raised at Committee, such as marketing at the Port of Tyne, had been addressed and thanked the Managing Director for this.

Councillor R Crute noted the positive picture together with the challenging background and asked how resilient the sector was in the longer term.  Councillor R Crute noted a 7% overnight stay and commented that increasing overnight stays is key in being able to capture the most spend, however, with austerity and budget cuts he asked how resilient the North East and County Durham were in the longer term.  The Managing Director, VCD noted that she began working at VCD in 2006, prior to the economic downturn in 2008.  She noted at that point, in 2006, there was an upward trajectory and in 2008 it fell a few percent and then levelled off.  She added that in 2013/14 there was a 1% growth. 

Members were reminded of the closure of One North East, and noted the current steady position.  The Managing Director, VCD noted that Brexit presented another unknown, although as only 2% of international visitors come to the North East, this might not have as much impact as in other parts of the country. 

It was added that many in the UK had chosen to stay and holiday in the UK, with national campaigns having worked in this regard.  She noted that there was further information to come from Government, such as the Industrial Strategy and Tourism Deal, with the North East working on a Tourism Zone bid.

Councillor P Jopling noted she was interested in how we measured partnerships and success for Durham.  Councillor P Jopling noted a lot of building work taking place in Durham City and a number of shops have vacated the city centre and asked what there was in terms of promoting any retail offer.  The Managing Director, VCD explained that this was an element that was promoted, however, the decline of retail was a national trend, with pressures from online shopping and large out-of-town retail parks.  She added that it was for High Streets to reinvent themselves, likely with less large chain stores and more independent shops.  The Managing Director, VCD noted that Adam Deathe from the Durham City Business Improvement District (BID) worked on a retail strategy, with some input from VCD and developers in Durham in respect of retail for the future.  Councillor P Jopling noted she felt the scale of development in Durham City was positive and that many that had left the city centre may come to see their move as short-sighted.

Mr T Batson agreed with the Chairman that the work of VCD was excellent and noted, in his time as a Co-opted Member of the Committee, he had seen how the work of VCD had developed and he felt it was incredible.  Mr T Batson noted that County Durham was mostly rural and that Durham County Council was a Local Planning Authority.  He asked whether the policies and strategies from a planning aspect were suitable to help Durham succeed in terms of tourism, noting that there was a need for Officers’ support otherwise there would be a negative response commercially in terms of investment.  The Managing Director, VCD noted that VCD worked with Planning colleagues, including the Planning Development Manger, Stephen Reed, who provided excellent support.  She added that the Durham Tourism Management Plan was the strategy for VCD and Planners referred to this when looking at tourism development.  The Managing Director, VCD noted there was a dedicated development post within the VCD team that commented on all relevant development and there was an internal working group, with colleagues from Planning, Clean and Green, Rights of Way that was very useful in considering and tackling issues.

Councillor L Maddison thanked the Managing Director, VCD for a very good presentation and for the feedback in relation to the Port of Tyne and partnership working.  She added that when members had previously raised questions in relation to the destination of passengers from the Port of Tyne it was stated that there was not much interest at that time in Beamish and not much emphasis on Locomotion.  Councillor L Maddison asked when the Top 4 destinations from the Port of Tyne were promoted, was a route map used, which could then also indicate what other attractions were in our region and our County, including distances and travel times to help link into our city and town centres, for example linking from the Bowes Museum to Locomotion and from Durham Cathedral to Beamish.  Councillor L Maddison noted a need to advertise nationally and in relation to the economy there was a need to focus on increasing the percentage of overnight stays. 

The Managing Director, VCD noted that there was a move to a more itinerary based approach providing links with 2 day itineraries, setting out where to eat, stay and visit.

The Chairman noted that there was a difference between Beamish Museum and Beamish Village and that this should be made clear when promoting the museum.

Councillor J Atkinson asked as regards joined up communication, noting a recent site visit where businesses had said that they were struggling to find time to communicate any concerns/issues that they had to those that could provide the necessary support.   The Managing Director, commented that VCD provides opportunities for businesses to engage with them via two conferences each year, a number of networking events and drop-in sessions.  Councillor J Atkinson noted that those businesses spoken to as part of the site visit did not seem to be aware of this.  The Chairman noted this linked to the work of the Retail Support Working Group.  The Managing Director, VCD noted a presentation had been held at the Guild in question, however, there was a capacity issue in that there were over 850 tourism businesses and 3 members of staff to service this.  She reiterated that there was a weekly e-newsletter as well as the two conferences, summer networking events and drop-in sessions.

Councillor J Clare noted that Locomotion and the associated town centre of Shildon were deemed to be separate, similarly with Beamish Museum and nearby towns and the Bowes Museum and Barnard Castle.  He asked how those associated towns could capture visitors to those attractions to maximise spend in those areas.  The Chairman noted from recent visits to London that visitor maps included advertisement around the outside alongside discounts and further information.

Resolved:    

That the report, presentation and progress with recommendations from the Scrutiny Review Report be noted.