Today's Marketing Insights is all about the 'groups' market.  For many years, the domestic group travel or coach tour industry has been an important part of the UK’s tourism industry.  Groups have historically been guaranteed business for many tourism organisations, with up to 50 people on a coach coming often during week day and shoulder periods.   However,  because of the pandemic, hundreds of coach companies, many of them well established, went out of business.  It's been devastating for them.   So, the question I have as a marketer in the visitor economy is, s ..read more

If large open-air events or air shows are your thing, you'll love this episode. In today’s podcast, I chat with Simon Hough, Head of Commercial Activities and Hospitality at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), the largest military airshow in the world.    We chat about the event and everything that goes into its creation across the year, including the logistical challenge of dealing with 253 aircraft coming into a single location for a week and the event's importance to the RAF and the wider aerospace industry. We also talk about Simon's role and how he went from managing ev ..read more

Today's episode is the first of my Marketing Insights series.  In it, I’m talking to the lovely Claire Robinson, founder and Creative Director of WeekendCandy.com, about the world of influencer marketing and how to work with Influencers in 2024.   Claire shares several tips on how to find the right people to work with and get the most out of the relationship, including: How to identify the right influencers for your target audience based on demographics and content tone/quality.  Be strategic rather than focus on vanity metrics like follower count. The importance of a professi ..read more

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and it can be a challenge to keep up. I recently had a conversation with Jarrod Lopiccolo (CEO) and Kate Sikora (Managing Partner) from Noble Performs, a digital agency that specialises in travel and tourism marketing.  With over 20 years of experience in the US, they established a UK agency in Bristol in 2019. Their clients include destinations like Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Cotswold Tourism, and St George's music venue in Bristol. In the visitor economy marketing industry, the US is often ahead of the UK. Therefore, talking to Noble wa ..read more

Welcome back to the first Visitor Elves episode of 2024.  I hope you had a good Christmas season and your plans for 2024 are shaping up.    In today's conversation, I'm going behind the scenes of Ashton Gate Stadium, home of Bristol City Football Club, Bristol Bears, and Bristol Flyers, with the wonderful, Dublin-born CEO Mark Kelly of Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter. We chat about: The exciting plans to develop a new Bristol Sporting Quarter with a 5,000-capacity conference centre,  two hotels, multi storey car park office, housing and retail space.  How concerts such ..read more

In this festive episode just before Christmas, we have a returning guest, the lovely Kathryn Davis, Managing Director of VisitWest, shedding light on the key aspects of the recently launched Destination Management Plan (DMP).  The VisitWest regional area, including Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset, brings in a staggering £2 billion to the local economy each year from tourism. Proving once again the importance of our industry.    In our conversation Kathryn shares:   How business has been in 2023 up until September for the region. Headlines of the De ..read more

Today's podcast episode features the delightful George Combe, talking about the growth and popularity of the Mendip Activity Centre in North Somerset. Spread across 250 acres, Mendip Activity Centre is the largest independent activity centre in the West. With a dry ski slope, toboggan run, watersports on the river, rock climbing, and much more. During the pandemic, the team made the decision to open their campsite to the public, where previously it had only been accessible to schools and children's groups. The result has been over 100,000 visitors and a rapidly growing reputation for being one ..read more

With one in five households having someone with an impairment or disability, it is crucial for businesses in the visitor economy to prioritise accessibility. Your consideration and awareness of this market can make or break a visitor's decision to choose your business.  Supporting people with access needs has always been essential, but in recent years, more information has become available, and businesses in the visitor economy are responding more proactively than ever before.  In this episode, I talk to Larry Bush, Director of Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in North Somerset, one of the attra ..read more

With one in five households having someone with an impairment or disability, it is crucial for businesses in the visitor economy to prioritise accessibility. Your consideration and awareness of this market can make or break a visitor's decision to choose your business.  Supporting people with access needs has always been essential, but in recent years, more information has become available, and businesses in the visitor economy are responding more proactively than ever before.  In this episode, I talk to Larry Bush, Director of Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in North Somerset, one of the attra ..read more

It's been a while but I'm excited to be back with my 30th episode featuring the team behind the Bristol restaurant absolutely smashing it on TikTok - Urban Tandoor.    Urban Tandoor are now apparently the most followed Indian restaurant account on TikTok, with many of their posts reaching views into the millions.   In today’s episode, I chatted with Sujith D’almeida Owner of Urban Tandoor, Bristol and TikTok queen Natalie Brereton from the agency Nonsensical.   We chatted about: How Sujith went from working on cruise ships through to owning three of his own successful Ind ..read more