Agenda item

(i)            Joint Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships and the Corporate Director of Regeneration and Local Services.

(ii)           Presentation by the Managing Director – Visit County Durham, Regeneration and Local Services.

The Chair welcomed the Managing Director Visit County Durham (VCD), Michelle Gorman who was in attendance to provide the Committee with an update presentation in relation to the development and marketing activity work of VCD (for copy see file of minutes).

The Managing Director VCD thanked the Chair and Committee and reminded Members of the national and local context regarding 2018, a challenging year.  She noted a number of issues, including: “the Beast from the East”, the cold weather experienced in February 2018, the Football World Cup in June/July 2018 and a heatwave over the summer period, adding that while one would normally expect good weather to translate to increased visitor numbers, it appeared as if many people had chosen to stay at home.  Members noted other local activities including: the opening of Auckland Tower; Discover England Fund projects; incentives to encourage short breaks rather than day trips and joining up of initiatives, Powered by People and Place of Light.

The Committee noted destination performance information for 2018 as regards the County including: an economic value of £914 million, up 1.4 percent on 2017; food and drink, recreation and indirect spend being the main areas of spend; 9,613 directly employed in tourism; 2,385 indirectly employed in the visitor economy; with the total being 11,998, up 2.7 percent on 2017.  Members were reminded that the Vale of Durham was the main visitor product.  The Managing Director VCD explained that the number of visitors in 2018 remained the same as the previous year, 19.71 million, however, the number of overnight stays had increased as had the average spend of visitors.

Councillors recalled that the Durham Tourism Management Plan (DTMaP) 2016-2020 was the blueprint for the growth of the visitor economy and noted there was consultation in November as regard the 2021-2025 DTMaP.  Members were asked to note international recognition of best practice from the Icelandic Tourist Board and World Bank and national recognition from Visit Cambridgeshire, Chichester and the Wester Ross Biosphere.

The Managing Director VCD noted the Tourism Sector Deal announced by Government on 28 June 2019, with the overarching objective for the UK to remain globally competitive as world leader in international tourism.  She noted that this was the tenth sector deal and aligned to the five pillars of the Industrial Strategy: ideas; people; infrastructure; business environment; and places.  The Managing Director VCD noted as regards looking to establishing a pilot Tourism Action Zone, which would attract Visit England and Visit Britain support for new ways of working to increase productivity. The Managing Director VCD explained she was on the North East Steering Group along with representatives from Local Authorities, the NELEP, Newcastle Airport and NewcastleGateshead. 

She added that criteria for those pilot zones had not yet been announced and therefore it was important to get the evidence base for a North East Tourism Action Zone in place.

In terms of partnership and engagement, the Managing Director VCD noted there were 850 core tourism businesses and 500 secondary visitor economy businesses, and a weekly e-newsletter was circulated to around 1,200 contacts. 

Members were reminded of the VCD projects focussing on history, heritage and outdoors, with new products to come from April 2020.  It was added that an important project was The Northern Saints Trails Project, which aimed to position and raise awareness of North East England as the “Christian Crossroads of the British Isles” and to portray the region’s Saints and their stories against a backdrop of: visitor attractions; cultural and heritage experiences; landscapes; places to eat and drink; visitor accommodation; and North East destinations.  Members were referred to a map, highlighting six walking routes, many in rural areas, and it was noted that the Bishop of Durham had stated he would be willing to walk all six routes.  It was noted there would be an associated hashtag, #Pilgrimage2020, and VCD would be marketing the project, looking at what it means to be a pilgrim today, and what would motivate someone to make a pilgrimage.  It was explained there would be several elements looked at including: Christian/religious heritage; regional arts, culture, heritage, history; spirituality, health, wellbeing, peace, tranquillity; the great outdoors, landscape and walking trails; exploration and family days out; sport, food, ancestral, sabbatical, travel, personal significance such as birthdays or a passion such as music or art.

In relation to destination marketing, the Managing Director VCD noted the partnership work that was undertaken and the two major annual campaigns relating to: heritage and history; and outdoor and landscapes.  Committee Members were remined of the main aims of the campaigns: to raise the national profile and appeal of the county; encourage overnight stays; raise shoulder season occupancy; and to raise awareness of a distinctive Durham experience.

The Managing Director VCD noted the Durham Year of Culture 2019, with a revised target for a visitor economy of £1 billion by the end of 2020, with festivals and events contributing to a higher national and international profile for County Durham.  She explained that it had also been the intention to provide additional reasons to visit the County, extend the length of a stay and address issues of seasonality.  It was added that the cultural and sporting offer linked to the health and wellbeing agenda and that another aim was to increase the consumption of culture, arts and heritage tourism experiences by residents and visitors.  The Managing Director VCD noted that the cultural legacy left for the County would be enjoyed by residents and visitors long after 2019. 

Members highlighted the success of the Cricket World Cup and noted the upcoming ten-year anniversary of Lumiere, the largest light show in the UK.  The Managing Director VCD concluded by noting the interim results from #Durham19 being: over 13,500 unique web visits, viewing over 41,000 pages; over 2,600 events listed on the site; 20-30 community events per month; 42,000 views of the #Durham19 video; and from the survey undertaken in April 2019, 23 percent of respondents had seen #Durham19 activity and were influenced to visit more than one event, and a further 17 percent were influenced to visit one event.

The Chair thanked the Managing Director VCD and asked Members for their comments and questions.

Councillor P Howell asked if the numbers of people staying at home was linked to the hot weather or if the events over the period were not good enough.  The Managing Director VCD noted that anecdotal feedback from some of the more popular, quality, larger attractions in the County, such as Beamish, had experienced less crowds than expected given the fine weather.  Councillor P Howell asked how this was evaluated.  The Managing Director VCD noted that visitor attraction data was gathered monthly and this was assessed against previous years’ information. 

Councillor P Howell referred to paragraph 23 of the report and the map highlighting the Northern Saints Trails, with neither referring to the south of the County, Darlington apparently being missed off.  He noted that the gravity of the issue seemed to be with the north of the region, however, he highlighted St. Cuthbert’s Church in Darlington and significant attractions at Barnard Castle in addition and noted the only hotel mentioned was Rockliffe Hall, not in the County but in Darlington.  The Managing Director VCD noted that Rockliffe Hall was a partner, working with other Destination Management Organisations, and the website would randomly display partners information on the website.  In relation to the map, the Managing Director VCD noted the projector screen cut off part of the display, however those maps circulated with the agenda papers showed as far down as Darlington.  She added that feedback had been received in terms of the North East Cultural Partnership as regard more focus on Darlington and the Tees Valley, and it was noted that Hartlepool were also looking as regards a pilgrim route in their area.  Councillor P Howell noted that in terms of pilgrimage, it should be noted that 2025 would mark the bicentennial anniversary of the Stockton to Darlington Railway and this would feed into the Shildon, Newton Aycliffe, Darlington and Tees Valley areas.

Councillor E Scott asked as regards overnight stays and the lack of accommodation in the County.  The Managing Director VCD noted this had been an issue for a number of years and that VCD and colleagues from Regeneration had worked together to try and understand the situation.  It was noted a number of gap analyses/studies had been carried out and workshops had been held with hotels, bed and breakfasts, glamping businesses and pubs with accommodation to help them understand as regards investing and growth. 

She added that around 170 businesses attended those workshops and that tourism data was used to help hoteliers look at how to invest for their business, however, the change was not going to happen overnight.

Mrs R Morris noted she felt the pilgrimage theme was a great idea and asked if analysis predicted that there would be a good take up of the offer being proposed. 

The Managing Director VCD noted that both Visit England and Visit Britain had a large amount of information in terms of faith tourism and, while it was a niche market, the offer was a marked point of differentiation from other destinations and also pilgrims tended to be high spenders and likely to also appreciate nature, landscape and heritage, all of which were strong offers in Durham.  Mr R Morris asked if numbers of pilgrims would be recorded, the Managing Director VCD noted they would.

Councillor E Adam asked as regards visitor numbers not increasing and asked if it was a chicken and egg situation and whether we needed to build accommodation for people to visit first or was it more events and activities.  He also noted that transport was another important factor in order for visitors to access a lot of the County’s offer, as many attractions were in rural locations.  The Managing Director VCD reiterated the regional partners, as part of the Sector Deal, and those from public transport, such as Arriva and Go North East and also Newcastle and Tees Valley Airports meet and hold discussions.  She added that sustainability was also an important element, looking at issues such as electric vehicle car-hire and discussions in this regard were ongoing.

Councillor P Howell reiterated he was very supportive of the work being undertaken in terms of #Pilgrimage19, and emphasised he simply wanted the best scheme for County Durham.

Councillor L Maddison asked if pilgrims would be signposted to other attractions in the County while following the six walking routes as previously mentioned.  The Managing Director VCD noted that would be the case in the initial stages however once launched activities, attractions and themes would be brought in to enhance the offer.

Resolved:  

(i)      That the report and presentation be noted.

(ii)      That the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee includes in its work programme for 2020/21 a further progress report detailing the future performance of Visit County Durham in marketing the county as a tourism destination, together with examples of marketing being undertaken.