RIGHT DESTINATION OF TRAVEL IS VITAL
Lancaster needs a visitor and tourism strategy to take full advantage of its great history and heritage.
That was the call from delegates to our Hotspot conference who spoke of their frustration that the city was not realising its true potential as a visitor destination.
Dan Knowles, digital community developer at D&S Knowles Consulting, says: “Lancaster should be full of American tourists visiting the castle, looking at the dark history of the city every year.
“We don’t make enough of it and that’s where there’s real opportunity for the city moving forward, to really look to marry the real estate and tech and digital innovation with the wonderful history.
“We should also play on our role as an event city. We’ve got a great autumn event calendar, let’s make it a 12-month event calendar.”
Fiona Lugiano, deputy chief executive at Ascentis, says: “I feel like it is almost a forgotten city. Everyone is driving past it on the motorway on the way to the Lake District. It’s not a shopping city, but it has such a rich heritage and culture.”
Caroline Rayner, partner at law firm Baines Wilson, adds: “The Eden people talk about
Lancaster and Morecambe sitting together being a ‘marketer’s dream’ because you’ve got this re-imagined seaside resort for this century sitting alongside a historic city in Lancaster.”
John O’Neill, commercial manager at Lancaster and District Chamber of Commerce and the Morecambe BID, also believes a unified approach is needed, presenting Lancaster and Morecambe as one area.
He says: “There is the ability for the area to really find itself.” He points out the district’s “big history” stretching back to the Romans and adds: “We have an opportunity to make our story unique.”
When it comes to that story, Maggie Cawthorn, from Lancaster and Morecambe College, says more could be made of the city’s role in the saga of the Pendle witches. The 1612 trials of the women accused of witchcraft took place in the city’s castle.
The story attracts thousands of visitors to east Lancashire every year and Maggie says: “The interest in witchcraft is massive and this is a real centre. We should be promoting it. Pendle does it but Lancaster doesn’t exploit the trials.”
Nick Dagger, head of marketing at ICS Accounting, says not enough was made of the 2018 branding exercise which saw the creation of the ‘Lancaster Story’.
He says: “We’ve got one of the best universities in the country. We’ve got two universities in our city. Why aren’t people staying here? We should have a ‘Lancaster district is the place to be’ initiative.”
Nick also thinks the city of Lancaster should be looking to submit a UK Capital of Culture bid. Charlie Haywood, founder of Lancaster based creative agency Hotfoot Design, agrees, saying: “Lancaster does need to promote itself better and we do need to look at other cities or towns that do it well, like Chester and York.
“Lancaster’s got so much to offer. We’ve got the quay which is brilliant but we don’t make the most of it. The castle has been revamped but still we can do better.”
City councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox, cabinet member with responsibility for sustainable economic prosperity, says the local authority has invested money to support Eden Project’s development work and accepts that “not enough” was made of the place branding exercise.
He has had talks with the council’s recently recruited economic development manager about the creation of a platform to showcase that work. However, he adds that given the economic situation and pressures on the local authority “it’s not going to get any easier to finance promotional campaigns”.
THE TEAM TO HAVE ON YOUR SIDE
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