A group of international travel leaders came together recently to see the Best of the North, as part of a bid to promote the North of England as a visitor destination.
The visit was organised by Destination Management Organisation Marketing Cheshire through the Northern Tourism Growth Fund, a £10m fund (with £10m match funding) which was managed by VisitEngland in 2015 to promote international tourism in Northern England.
It was the third in a series of events to drive the growth of tourism in the North. It brought together leaders from organisations including Emirates Airlines, Kuoni, Manchester Airport, Axis and Globe and JAC Travel for a ‘money can’t buy’ experience which included the Legends Tour at Manchester City Football Club, a behind the scenes tour of the BBC at MediaCityUK, a drinks reception at The Midland Hotel followed by dinner at The French, one of Britain’s first Michelin-starred restaurants, and an overnight stay at The Lowry Hotel.
During their stay, leaders also took part in a roundtable discussion looking at the collective opportunities for growing business in the North.
There was also the opportunity to take part in a number of familiarisation trips to Northern destinations which included:
- Cheshire’s beautiful countryside at Tatton Park, taking in lunch in the Gardener’s Cottage, a tour of the park’s award winning gardens and a visit to the Tesler Showroom in Knutsford to introduce the products at the Cheshire base and a tour of Tatton Brewery.
- Harewood House in Yorkshire, Ripley Castle and Black Sheep Brewery for guided tours, followed by a meal the Yorke Arms, an 18th century coaching house and shooting lodge now serving as a Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms.
Other events organised through the Fund included the Best of the North, a B2B workshop also organised by Marketing Cheshire giving 60 suppliers from the North the opportunity to present to a group of 60 travel buyers from across the globe, and Northern Stately Homes, where 27 buyers met 27 suppliers for a day of appointments and familiarisation trips. Across the three events, 3,000 meetings have taken place.
Katrina Michel, Chief Executive of Marketing Cheshire, said: "Marketing Cheshire was delighted to manage this visit on behalf of the Northern Tourism Growth Fund. This was a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the strengths of the visitor offer in Cheshire and the North to an international audience, and to work with leaders in the tourism industry to share best practice on how we can drive further growth and compete with other international destinations.”
Sally Balcombe VisitBritain and VisitEngland’s Chief Executive Officer says; "The Best of the North is a great example of how our partners are collectively working to profile and promote the North of England to an international audience; to grow leisure and business visitor numbers and raise the profile of the North as a place to come, stay and do business".
"Our aim is to grow tourism in the North of England by 2 million additional visitor nights, generating £177m of international visitor expenditure and create 3,280 jobs”.
Read more at marketingcheshire.co.uk