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Visitwiltshire Members Newsletters Issue 35, January 2011

 A slightly delayed welcome to this special newsletter, with updates on the latest developments in VisitWiltshire.  We have held off sending it until now as we wanted to ensure we could give you as much information as possible!

Some of you may already have heard that Alun Williams will be leaving VisitWiltshire on 28th February (you'll find a personal message from Alun below).  Evelyn Taylor has been appointed by VisitWiltshire Ltd as interim Chief Executive while the final details of the new contract with Wiltshire Council are agreed and the recruitment of the new, permanent Chief Executive is completed.

At its January meeting the Cabinet of Wiltshire Council confirmed that it will provide £500,000 per annum for the next three years as its contribution to establishing VisitWiltshire Ltd as a separate 'Company Limited by Guarantee'.  It will also provide office space for the new organisation.  This is really good news and gives a firm foundation on which to build an independent membership based organisation concentrating on marketing Wiltshire, raising its profile and bringing you new business.

As part of Wiltshire Council's drive to reduce costs it instigated a Management Review, looking to shed 25% of its managers.  Due to changes being proposed elsewhere, my job was put "at risk" and I was offered voluntary redundancy.  And this started me thinking ...  I have been travelling to Salisbury now since May 1993 when I joined Wilton House and reckon I have driven over 230,000 miles between home (in Bournemouth) and work (in Salisbury).  I also turned 60 last October and can start to draw my pension.  Having successfully established VisitWiltshire over the last three years and brought it to a position where we have nearly 440 members, we are just about to start a new chapter, with the launch of VisitWiltshire as an independent organisation.  This seemed a good time to step back and hand over the baton to someone else to take this next step, find a job in Bournemouth and start to live one life (in Bournemouth) rather than two, split between Bournemouth and Salisbury.  I will be very sad to leave the fantastically hard working team here and have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Salisbury and more recently across Wiltshire.  It will come as something of a wrench not to get paid to drive through the stunning Wiltshire scenery as part of my job!  My thanks for all the support I have had working in Salisbury and Wiltshire - and very best wishes for the future.

How did we do in 2010?

We've been looking back on last year and wanted to bring you up to date with a few facts and figures that you might find of interest.  To whet your appetite:

Number of unique website visits:  569,739  (61,000 in August alone)

Number of website hits:  40,075,816 

Value of PR  generated £1,641,000

Number of Where to Stay brochure requests 18,030

Number Where to Stay brochures sent to TICs  28,856

Estimated value of business created £4,581,300

Membership increased by 15% from 380 on 1 April 2010 to 436 by 31 December 2010.

You'll find a fuller report on the Members' section of the website.

January saw the delivery of 256,000 brand new guides across three titles and the launch of our 2011 lead generation campaign which seeks to attract 20,000 Where to Stay brochure enquiries (an increase of at least 10% on last year).  Website unique visits for January were 21% up on the same month last year, with over 1000 followers/fans signed up on both Facebook and Twitter now.  Between January and the end of March we will be spending around £100,000 on advertising, distributing brochures and PR.  Plans are being finalised at the moment for the 2011/12 marketing activity, to run from 1 April.  This will see a significant increase in the amount we will be spending, which will increase to £400,000 over the next 12 months.  Full details of this will be presented soon.

Again, you'll find a fuller report on the VisitWiltshire website.

Accommodation providers should have recently received an email from VisitWiltshire regarding the updates to your website entries for the VisitBritain, EnjoyEngland and VisitWiltshire websites.  These updates form part of a contractual agreement with Visit Britain and, for this reason, it is essential that we receive any changes and the signed approval form as soon as possible.  It is also important as a means of updating your prices for 2011. Attraction update forms will be following shortly.

Please let Nick Baumber know if you have any special offers you would like us to feature on the Spring Break page of the website,info@visitwiltshire.co.uk

The next Tourism Forum is scheduled for Monday 14^th March in Devizes, so please put the date in your diary!  This will be a Literature Exchange and our Attraction Members should have already received an invite to have a stand and bring along their 2011 publications, free of charge.  If you do wish to have a stand please reply to Jenny Butler as soon as possible, jennybutler@visitwiltshire.co.uk. More details will follow in future newsletters.

Do you use Eviivo Frontdesk?

If so please check that you have selected VisitWiltshire and the TIC marketing channel in your system.  These must be selected to ensure your on-line booking and availability shows on the VisitWiltshire website.

Hotel sought for "Behind the Scenes" documentary

Dragonfly Film & Television are looking for an independently run hotel in Britain to be the focal point of an exciting series.  This will be a unique opportunity for one hotel as life behind the scenes is captured for a month on film. They would like a vibrant hotel with warm and humorous staff which caters for regular customers, summer trade and functions such as birthday parties, weddings or wakes.  The series will give a heart-warming insight into life in 21^st century Britain.  If you think that you could be The Hotel, please e-mail thehotel@dragonfly.tv  with your telephone number, address and a brief description of your hotel or call Sophie on 0207 033 2269 for more information.

Trans Wilts Rail has been set up by Wessex Chambers of Commerce with the support of Wiltshire Council and other partners to press the Government for improvements to the rail network between Salisbury and Swindon.  The proposal is rapidly gaining momentum and a decision is expected shortly.  TransWilts is now seeking public and business support for the proposal to show the clear demand for a regular rail service for both commuters and non-commuters and highlight the much needed alternative to road transport.  The time to influence the decision to add more trains and improve the service frequency is very short. 

To be sure of being included in our submission statistics, they need your survey response by Friday 18^th February, http://surveymonkey.com/s/TWRpublic1.

VisitEngland has launched a new online tool to make it easier for tourism businesses to create an Access Statement.  An Access Statement, which is a description of a venue's services and facilities, helps people with access needs make an informed decision about whether an establishment can cater sufficiently for their needs.  This free tool now offers bespoke guidance according to the business type and in doing so provides operators with the information they need in order to create a robust Access Statement.

For more information see www.visitengland.com/accessstatements.

The tourism industry should see an increase by over 300,000 visitors in the number of visitors to the country in 2011, according to VisitBritain.  About 30 million inbound visitors should come to the UK in 2011, which would be a rise of 1% compared with 2010. Spend should also enjoy growth, with visitors forecast to spend about £17.2bn, 2% more than in 2010. The challenges for the year include the still relatively slow recovering in Europe and North America, which make up 85% of Britain's inbound visitors. However, with the improving economic conditions and events such as the Royal Wedding, the tourism industry should receive a boost, which should result in higher numbers of visitors to the country.

Congratulations to Elaine Sexton at The Old Rectory, Lacock, who has been selected as a Regional Finalist for the Countryside Alliance Rural Business Awards.  More about the Alliance can be found on their website, http://www.countryside-alliance.org.uk/, and Elaine is happy to speak to anyone interested in finding out more about the awards.

We are pleased to welcome the following businesses to the VisitWiltshire Partnership, Compton Farmhouse and Quidhampton Mill B & B.  We wish them all the very best with their new businesses.

Jewellery, Beads and Findings fair, Bradford on Avon

19^th-20^th February

http://www.southwestfairs.co.uk/

Rise and Shine, Stourhead House

19^th - 20^th February

http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/site/whats-on/rise-and-shine-p1149943

Active Salisbury

21^st - 25^th February

http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/site/whats-on/active-salisbury-p1180923

Flights of Fancy, Lydiard House

19^th - 27^th February

http://www.lydiardpark.org.uk/

Ancient Britons Family Day, Devizes

27^th February

http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/

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