How will the tourism sector bounce back from COVID-19? Nottingham tourist board to host free Virtual Visitor Economy Summit for local businesses

Visit Nottinghamshire, the official tourist board for the region and part of Marketing Nottingham, will be hosting its annual Visitor Economy Summit on Monday 6 July 2020, 11am – 12:30pm. This free event will be going digital for the first time ever, and is aimed at tourism and hospitality businesses across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, including accommodation providers, visitor attractions, conference venues, drinking and dining establishments, tour guides, retailers and more.

During the Virtual Visitor Economy Summit, attendees will hear from leading industry experts about some of the work taking place to help both the national and local tourism industries to bounce back after COVID-19. The packed programme will feature updates from Andrew Stokes, England Director for the national tourist board VisitBritain, on their plans to support the recovery of the UK tourism sector following COVID-19, including their new ‘We’re Good to Go’ industry standard mark, their domestic tourism campaign and their business recovery webinars.

Attendees will also get an exclusive insight into the development and reopening plans for Nottingham Castle, described as having “the potential to be the catalyst that can help to reposition Nottingham as an internationally significant heritage and culture destination,” and which will welcome an estimated 400,000 visitors a year. There will be a speaker from the Nottingham Culture Board detailing their plans for 2021 which are also set to bring additional visitors to Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, supporting the recovery of the local tourism sector.

Northstar Meetings Group will be sharing insights into the trends and forecasts for the Business Visits and Events industry, while attendees will also hear updates and developments from Annie’s Burger Shack. Visit Nottinghamshire will outline their campaign plans to promote Nottingham and Nottinghamshire as a world-class tourist destination in the post-COVID landscape and how local businesses can get involved.

Robert Dixon, interim Chief Executive of Marketing Nottingham, said:

“The global visitor economy is undergoing a seismic shift. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we promote Nottingham and Nottinghamshire as an attractive tourist destination in a post-COVID world. Despite the challenges that the local tourism sector is facing, the 2021 reopening of Nottingham Castle presents a real opportunity that we can, and must, capitalise on.”

“In recent months, Marketing Nottingham has captured insights from businesses and consumers to understand the true impact of COVID-19. We’ve also worked with partners across the region to create a compelling narrative to showcase why Nottingham is such a brilliant tourist destination as well as an online toolkit to help us tell this story. This work will form the basis of a reopening campaign to attract tourists in the coming weeks and months.”

“At our Virtual Visitor Economy Summit, we’ll be hearing from some of the most experienced professionals in the industry. This year we are throwing open our doors to every business from across the tourism, hospitality, retail and leisure sectors to share our updates, ideas and insights as we set out along the road to recovery.”

Those wishing to attend the event can register here.

Posted on 03 July 2020

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Sophie Milne

A member of the Marketing and Communications team at Marketing NG, Sophie manages press and PR. This includes writing and distributing press releases, arranging FAM trips, liaising with the media to gain press coverage for Nottingham/shire and Marketing NG, monitoring the news and ensuring colleagues are kept up to date with news stories and doing media interviews.