Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Director – Communities & Environment (formerly the Director – Customers) which sought to provide Members with a summary of the 2018 Visitor Market Research Project.  It was reported that the research had been commissioned to improve knowledge of the visitor experience, develop an understanding of who visitors were and what they felt about their experiences.  A programme of qualitative market research with an external agency was undertaken between May and September 2018 with the methodology being face to face interviews with visitors at difference locations.  These included three key events: Pikes & Plunder; Robin Hood Festival; and Gate to Southwell.  A smaller online survey of visitors and non-visitors was also undertaken.  Paragraph 3.0 of the report provided Members with statistical information and the proposals arising from the research.  The report also sought Members’ onward recommendation to the Policy & Finance Committee for additional funding of £15k per year for the Promotion of Tourism from 2019/20 onwards. 

In considering the report Members agreed that it provided useful information as to the experience of visitors and would help to inform the further development of the Destination Management Plans.  Members also agreed that the effective communication of the Council’s offer would be paramount to developing and improving the visitor experience.  Members’ queried how members of the public searched for tourist information within the District.  In response the Business Manager – Tourism advised that it was online either organically or paid for.  However, the Council did not feature high up the results on a search engine and this warranted further investigation.  He added that the improvement of the website would be a priority followed by paid for searches around key activities.  A report to Committee in March 2019 would update Members as to progress made.  Members stated that there were too many different sites offering tourist attractions and suggested that all parties would be better served if their sites and events were under a single website.  In response, the Business Manager agreed adding that partnership working was the key to strategic development.

In relation to printed information, the Business Manager advised that visitors would pick up paper leaflets at any attraction they visited and not from a formal standalone Tourist Information Centre (TIC).  It was suggested that every venue was a TIC and that opportunity to increase the amount of information placed within them should be taken. 

AGREED      (unanimously) that:

(a)     the findings of the 2018 Visitor Market Research Project be noted;

(b)     the additional funding required in the sum of £15,000 per year be included in the Promotion of Tourism budget from 2019/2010 onwards be recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee;

(c)     given its importance as the most widely used source for information about Newark & Sherwood prior to visit, a report on the development of the district-wide visitor online experience be presented to the March 2019 meeting of the Committee; and

(d)     the recommended actions from the forthcoming Destination Management Plans for Sherwood Forest and Southwell be considered in light of the above findings of the 2018 Visitor Market Research Project.