British Destinations Annual Conference

British Destinations Annual Conference Southport June 16-17th

British Destinations held their annual conference in Southport last week. The main focus of the event was Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and delegates from across the country presented their experiences in both setting up and managing BIDs government funding. BIDs can be an excellent source of extra cash to tackle issues such as marketing and events, particularly in this age of reduced local security and customer service. The Tourism BID in Great Yarmouth is of particular interest, supported only by ratepayers benefitting from tourism.

Of particular interest was the keynote address from James Berresford, chief executive of Visit England, and a presentation from Brigid Simmons from the Beer and Pubs Association who stressed the importance of good pubs to the tourism offer.

Steve Fothergill from Sheffield Hallam University presented a brief overview of the recently updated report on employment in seaside towns across the country. This suggests that although there is significant variation across the country, overall employment in seaside tourism has grown from 207,000 in 2006-2008 to 212,000 in 2010-2012 – an average growth rate of 0.6 percent.

The conference was superbly hosted by the Ramada Plaza overlooking the Marine Lake in Southport. The evening dinner included British Destination awards – first place went to Blackpool for their tourist brochure front cover and to the Isles of Scilly for their website home page. See the award winners here.

For further details click on the link below:

British Destinations Annual Conference summary and presentations

By Jo Edom