FOCUS FEATURE


LEISURE & TOURISM


How we can all help to promote the region


Business Network Editor Nathan Fearn looks at how important leisure and tourism is to the region, what is being done to keep it ahead of the competition and how, when it comes to promoting the East Midlands, we’re all marketeers.


The concept of leisure and tourism has been around since time immemorial. While times and trends have changed vastly down the ages, the desire to pursue leisure activities, travel and to discover new experiences has forever been in the human psyche. Unsurprisingly, leisure and tourism, in its myriad modern-


day guises, is big business. While the leisure and tourism industry is by no means wholly reliant on overseas tourists, it does nevertheless play a significant role. To add some context, in 2016 alone inbound tourism to the UK economy - courtesy of figures from Visit Britain, Britain’s official tourist board - saw 37.6 million inbound visits, up 4.1% on 2015, with these visitors spending £22.5bn, up 2.1% on 2015, while the forecast for 2017 is for 39.7 million visits, up six per cent on 2016 and £25.7bn in visitor spending, an increase of 14% on 2016. Why is the UK increasingly popular with tourists? The UK


Tourism Dynamics report – Seizing opportunities in your region, published by Barclays, suggests: “the UK’s impressive heritage and enthusiasm for contemporary culture make it an attractive destination for the world’s tourists. By 2017, total expenditure by domestic and overseas tourists is expected to increase by 27% to just over £135.5bn.” Of course the value to the UK that comes from leisure


and tourism is not limited to consumers. In its State of the UK Leisure Industry: A driver for growth, Business in Sport and Leisure (BISL) - based on research by management consultants Oliver Wyman – suggests that the UK leisure sector alone “employs 2.6 million people, representing nine per cent of total UK employment. This is more than manufacturing, transport, construction or financial services. It generates over £200bn of revenue when accounting for direct contributions (£117bn) and indirect contributions (£102bn).” So from a macro perspective, the leisure and tourism


sector is hugely important to UK plc and this is evident through the high priority it has been given by the Government, notably through its Britain is GREAT strategic marketing campaign. Yet, from both a strategic and marketing perspective, a


lot of activity hones in on place and places. With the advent of ever-quicker transport and a seemingly much smaller world - which is increasingly more accessible to


38 business network October 2017


‘The leisure and tourism sector is hugely important to UK plc and this is evident through the high priority it has been given by the Government’


more and more people - towns, cities, counties and regions are competing for consumers and all have their own USPs. There’s a nice extract from John Towner’s 1997 essay


What is tourism's history? that says: “one summer's day in August 1887, an 11-year-old girl and her nine-year-old brother set out from their Oxfordshire village to walk the eight miles to the local town to spend a month's holiday with their aunt and uncle. The journey itself was full of novel experiences… a new world was encountered in the small town, with different customs and sights; where even visiting the local shops was a memorable event.” While this is a romantic and nostalgic view of times gone by, the opportunities and practicalities to attract leisure-seekers and tourists from different parts of the UK, let alone abroad, are now a world away from this extract. In playing on the selling points of these towns, cities,


counties and regions, all of the businesses involved in the leisure and tourism industry can buy into something that ultimately becomes greater than the sum of its parts. To this end, it is little wonder that place marketing


organisations are playing increasingly important roles, with the likes of Visit Peak District and Derbyshire, Destination Chesterfield and Marketing Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to name but three, all playing important roles in attracting visitors, and money, to the area and giving those local to the area reasons to utilise the leisure offerings on their doorsteps. So what are the East Midlands’ attributes, what it is it


that helps attract people to the area and just how important is the industry to the region?


FROM TOP:


Chatsworth House, Derbyshire Nottingham Castle


The Peak District National Park


King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester


The National Space Centre, Leicester


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