Regional Tourism Team Update - 25.01.07

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 »
Tourism Development Unit »
Business Development Unit »
Visitor Services Unit »
Tourism North East online »

UK MARKETING ACTIVITY

Experience Spring/Summer Campaign (Jan - March)

Stage two of the Experience Campaign is underway to highlight the benefits of holidaying in the North East in the spring/summer season.

The aims of the campaign are to:

• bring new visitors to the North East in the spring/summer months
• increase the number of requests for the Holiday Guide
• increase awareness of the North East as a holiday destination.

In addition to a wide range of tactical activity including direct mail, brochure panels and on-line activity, over two million loose inserts will be inserted into key regional newspapers. The lead image on the A5, 4 page insert will change so that each sub-region can benefit from being the key focus.

Distribution of Experience inserts

The call to action will direct people to a telephone number and website: www.visitnortheastengland.com

Click here to view examples of the campaign creative, or for more information please contact jane.okeeffe@onenortheast.co.uk.

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INTERNATIONAL MARKETING ACTIVITY

Norway Direct Mail Campaign

Reinforcing the region's international presence, One NorthEast Tourism has launched a Taste Britain campaign for the Norwegian market in partnership with DFDS, Land Rover and VisitBritain.

This touring campaign runs between January and March and focuses on North East England. The campaign pivots on a 20 page magazine, 45,000 copies of which are being directly mailed through the Landrover database, DFDS database, VisitBritain database. Magazines have also been distributed at the Bergen and Oslo consumer travel shows.

The magazine includes 10 pages of dedicated copy on North East England with a focus on food, shopping, touring, leisure and accommodation. The piece includes a number of 4 for the price of 3 accommodation offers from across the region and a competition featuring a high value prize including travel with DFDS Seaways, hotel accommodation, entrance to attractions across the region and off road driving with Landrover.

A dedicated website www.tastebritain.no also reinforces the 'Passionate people. Passionate places' campaign branding and gives easy online information and links to a range of accommodation providers in the region.

For more information please contact marissa.buckingham@onenortheast.co.uk.

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TRAVEL TRADE

Great Days Out Fair - 3 Feb

The Travel Trade Team will be promoting the region to more than 4000 visitors at the Great Days Out Fair on Saturday 3 February 2007, at Bolton's Reebok Stadium. With more than 180 exhibitors Great Days Out is widely recognised as the largest one-day group travel organisers' event in the country. One NorthEast will be exhibiting in the North East England pavilion, along with regional partners from:

Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum
Hadrian's Wall Country
Hartlepool's Maritime Experience
Haven & British Holidays
Sporting Lodge Inns
Steve Reed Tourism Ltd
Tourism Tyne and Wear
Visit Tees Valley
Warner Breaks
Wear Valley - Durham Dales

The exhibition will also be used to promote the new 2007 Group Travel Guide, Tailored to Suit itinerary packs, and the Hidden Benefits special offer booklet.

For more information on the event and to find out how you can attend please see www.greatdaysout.com, or contact chris.amson@onenortheast.co.uk.  

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TOURISM DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Day Visits Survey

The latest day visits survey showed that 3.6 billion leisure trips were taken in England during 2005 with 47.4 million taken in the North East with visitors to the region spending £333 million.

The survey carried out by Natural England (formerly the Countryside Agency) only takes into account trips to the countryside and seaside coast (rural trips). For more details please contact ian.thomas@onenortheast.co.uk.

Regional Occupancy Survey

A new more user friendly occupancy survey will be introduced in the North East in February. Lynn Jones Forecasting who will be running the survey on behalf on the Regional Tourism Team will be in touch with current participants soon. New participants are also welcome with the survey available for completion in both online and paper formats. For further information please contact tracey.wilkinson@onenortheast.co.uk.

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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Attracting Tourists Online

Four seminars to help firms in the tourism industry discover how ICT and e-business can help grow their business will take place during February and March. Tailored to the needs of tourism businesses, the seminars will demonstrate how to improve business performance, sustainability and business success. They will provide 'taster' sessions on a number of ICT topics including website development, e-commerce, and broadband. Delegates will also hear from regional tourism businesses that have adopted e-business and enjoyed the benefits first-hand. Information about the Area Tourism Partners (ATPs) and other business support agencies plus delegate packs will also be available.

For further information or to book a place, please email liz.johnson@n-e-life.co.uk or telephone 0191 487 2002.

Dates

New Blue Badge Course

Newcastle College has launched a new course to train people as Blue Badge Guides. The course will begin at the end of March and will include both classroom based activity and fieldwork. A number of assignments and projects completed during the summer will provide students with the opportunity to qualify by Spring 2008.

An open day will be held at the college on Monday 12 February with deadline for final course applications on Friday 16 February.

For further information, to take part in the open day, or for an application form please contact Mark Aspel at Newcastle College (Tel: 0191 200 4610) or mark.aspel@ncl-coll.ac.uk.

Tax return deadline looms

With the deadline for submission of self-assessment tax returns less than ten days away, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued a reminder for those who have yet to file their returns to do so immediately or risk a £100 penalty. In 2006, around a million taxpayers missed the deadline. Persistent late payers can ultimately be charged a fine of £60 per day. HMRC has warned people who are submitting paper returns to allow sufficient time for postage.

There are more details at:

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=257899&NewsAreaID=2

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VISITOR SERVICES UNIT

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@onenortheast.co.uk. 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. 

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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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