Welcome to our fortnightly e-bulletin packed with information about what the North East England Regional Tourism Team have been up to.

UK Marketing Activity »
International Marketing Activity »
Travel Trade »
Business Development Unit »
Tourism Development Unit »
Visitor Services Unit »
Tourism North East online »

UK MARKETING ACTIVITY

Outdoors Show, 16-18 March

North East England’s fantastic walking and cycling will be showcased at the forthcoming Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show at the Birmingham NEC.

Located in the Explore Britain section of the exhibition, the North East England stand is 27 square metres and will incorporate inspirational graphics and the recently launched TV ad.

Partners joining the stand this year include:

• Hadrian’s Wall Country
• Sustrans
• Visit Tees Valley

For further information regarding the show please contact Gail Whittle or visit www.theoutdoorsshow.co.uk

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INTERNATIONAL MARKETING ACTIVITY

Focus on: The Netherlands

A spring campaign targeting the Dutch visitor and focussing on North East England’s touring product will commence in March.

The region’s product is well suited to the demands of this market who visit our region for the tranquillity of our beautiful coast and countryside, our picturesque towns and villages and the opportunity to walk and cycle surrounded by stunning scenery.

Campaign activity will include:

• Inclusion into a newspaper supplement produced by P&O Ferries which will reach 1million readers. A full page advertorial will focus on a three day touring itinerary starting in Tees Valley and finishing in Northumberland.
• A printed direct mail piece which will be distributed to 300,000 potential visitors. The Dutch microsite www.visitnortheastengland.com/nl will also be used as the call to action.
• An online campaign match funded by enjoyEngland. Whilst benefiting from the strong ‘England’ brand awareness, the campaign will only include information and imagery on North East England.

For more information please contact Marissa Buckingham.

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TRAVEL TRADE

Hidden Benefits to launch at British Travel Trade Fair

The Travel Trade Department will be launching the new 2007 Hidden Benefits incentive booklet at the British Travel Trade Fair on 13-14 March. Packed with 40 special offers for tour planners organising groups to the region, this year’s Hidden Benefits includes a host of fantastic discounts from free guided tours of top attractions to a complimentary glass of wine for all pre-booked groups.

The British Travel Trade Fair is widely considered the travel trade showcase of the year, and in 2006 the show welcomed around 400 exhibitors from throughout Britain with 2,400 domestic and overseas tour operators, group travel organisers and travel agents to generate more than £30 million-worth of business. Following last years success, North East England will be exhibiting as one unique destination, on a bespoke custom built stand, with regional partners from:

• Alnwick Castle
• Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum
• County Durham Tourism Partnership
• Hadrian’s Wall Country
• Northumberland Tourism
• The Alnwick Garden
• Tourism Tyne and Wear
• Visit Tees Valley
• Woodhorn

To celebrate the launch of the 2007 Hidden Benefits booklet, North East England will be giving away a host of fantastic prizes, including free admission to attractions region-wide and a video iPod.

You can find North East England on stand N300, For further information regarding the show please contact Chris Amson or visit www.britishtraveltradefair.com

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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Spring Training Dates

Welcome to Excellence is the national customer service training initiative for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism.

It offers a series of one day training programmes to make sure you and your staff have the skills needed to ensure a memorable visit for all your guests and to help boost business. Why not take advantage of this specially designed training by booking onto one of the following courses:

All courses take place at One NorthEast, Stella House, Newburn Riverside unless otherwise stated. For more information or to book contact Laura Lowrey on 0191 229 6840.

Tapping into Green Tourism - 9th March at Tall Trees

Tall Trees Hotel has received planning approval to become the world’s first six star 'green' hotel.

The region’s Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre is supporting this mission by providing details of suitable suppliers and technologies to help make this happen.

A pioneering event to be held at the hotel will see the green suppliers showcasing their proposals to Tall Trees and give you an insight into the 'going green' process, believed to be the future for many in the tourist trade.

The event will include demonstrations of solutions and technologies providing a green answer to energy use and give you an insight into how to become more energy efficient.

This event will be held at the Tall Trees Hotel on 9 March from 10.30 to 3pm.

For more information or to book for the event please contact Sarah Gent on 01642 373027 or e-mail mailto:sarah.gent@est-ne.org.uk.

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TOURISM DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Occupancy Rates

Average room occupancy for the region’s serviced accommodation properties was up by 2 percentage points compared to 2005 at 61%. Self-Catering properties maintained consistent levels on 2005 with an average unit occupancy of 57%.

Full trend data and annual reports are available by clicking here.

Regional Visitor Survey

Following 12 months of face-to-face interviews at locations around the region the findings are now being compiled for the final report which will be available at the end of March. Workshops are being held in each sub region in order to look at the findings and how they can help to improve the visitor experience. The data will be made available on www.tourismnortheast.co.uk

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VISITOR SERVICES UNIT

Update your Information...Instantly

Desti.ne Frontdesk is performing ahead of expectations with over £40,000 worth of online bookings taken by participating businesses this February alone. However, Desti.ne is not just about online booking.

Desti.ne Extranet is for businesses that simply want to keep their information up-to-date and be able to monitor their performance on Desti.ne powered websites and through Tourist Information Centres. For example, if you need to change pricing, facilities, opening times or description, accessing Desti.ne Extranet will provide the ability to update that information across the Area Tourism Partnership, visitNorthEastEngland, enjoyEngland and VisitBritain websites and Tourist Information Centres...instantly. The reporting area provides you with information on how many people viewed your page on Desti.ne driven websites or in Tourist Information Centres, viewed your location map, clicked through to your website, e:mailed you via Desti.ne and added your information to their personalised itinerary.

For access to Desti.ne Extranet or for more information contact Karen O’Donnell at One NorthEast Tourism on (0191) 229 6831.

Call Goes Out for Online Images

Following our successful Accommodation Image Project, almost 90% of accommodation providers displayed on the regional visitor website, www.visitnortheastengland.com, now have at least one promotional image. What's more, through the links between Desti.ne and EnglandNet, these images are shown on www.visitbritain.com and www.enjoyengland.com. The success of the project means that North East England has more accommodation businesses displaying an image through VisitBritain websites than any other region in the country.

However, it is important that our websites and those of VisitBritain also display images for the region's attractions and events.

To assist us in promoting your business, please send us any quality promotional images of your attraction or event to Jason Yip. Alternatively you can post your images to Jason at One NorthEast, Stella House, Goldcrest Way Newburn Riverside, Newcastle upon Tyne NE15 3NY.

The collection of images forms part of the Regional Information Collection Programme. The programme, conducted by One NorthEast Tourism together with the four Area Tourism Partnerships, ensures that we have a single, consistent and up-to-date source of tourism product information for North East England.

Distribution Day

Distribution Day takes place on 29 March at Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields and is a chance for tourism businesses to collect and distribute pamphlets, guides and leaflets either to advertise their business or to provide information for their customers throughout the year.

The event has been organised by Tourism Network North East. Staff representing One NorthEast and the Area Tourism Partnerships will be in attendance on the day to answer your questions.

To register for the event or to book a table (free of charge) contact Emma Brown on 0191 229 6833.

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FIND OUT MORE

If you would like to find out more on tourism in the region, visit www.tourismnortheast.co.uk - a dedicated website for the tourism industry in North East England.

RECOMMEND A FRIEND

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