Agenda item

(1)       The Chairman welcomed Ruth Wood to the meeting and invited her to give a short presentation on Tourism in Kent including information on European funded schemes. She then answered questions from members.

Presentation

(2)       Ruth stated that Tourism in Kent was worth £3.4m to the Kent economy and supported 64,000 jobs and involved 4,000 businesses; it was one of the few sectors showing job growth.  Ruth gave a brief background to Visit Kent and set out its funding streams; it had received since 2002 14% of its funding from European funding steams. Ruth undertook to supply the figures for Visit Kent funding which were shown as percentages on the slide.

Action - Ruth Wood (now completed)

(3)       Ruth introduced slides which gave examples of European funded projects which Visit Kent has led on, these included “Greet the World” set up to create a legacy from the 2012 London Games (value to Kent – 2 million Euros)  , and the CAST and SEACONOMICS, projects to promote the Kent Coast (value to Kent – 2.2 million Euros).

(4)       Ruth referred to the COOL project which supported rural tourism. Master classes had been provided for businesses and the funding supported a business advisor. 

(5)       Ruth explained that the majority of the projects were supported by Interreg funding, 2 Seas Trade or Channel programme funding.  On a smaller scale Ruth referred to the Kent Breakfast and Hamper project which had facilitated links across providers of accommodation and Kent Producers.  Although it only had a financial value of £40k it had had a great impact in promoting Kent produce.

Question – What are you doing to avoid duplication across the various public bodies in relation to securing funding for the same services.

(6)       Ruth acknowledged that duplication had been a challenge; part of the role of Visit Kent was to communicate at various levels and to share project ideas so that for example District Councils knew what Visit Kent were planning to do in their area and could either work with them as a partner or focus their efforts on another project.

Question – We work closely with Northern France and the Low Countries, but this is a double edged sword as they have similar coastal attractions as Kent, what are you doing to make sure that we gain tourism and that visitors stay in Kent?

(7)       Ruth stated that Visit Kent considered their main tourist competitors to be the budget airlines providing low cost flights to Europe e.g. Prague or sun destinations rather than near Europe.  Kent benefited from its close proximity to Europe and being a gateway to London and the rest of the UK.  Visit Kent produced and promoted 48 hour itineraries for visitors to encourage people to spend a couple of nights in Kent and Nord Pas De Calais combining two destinations in one holiday.        

Question – is it possible to monitor what success we have in attracting visitors from Europe e.g. France, Belgium or Holland to visit our coasts and visa versa?

(8)       This information is based on visitor surveys to find out where people go on holiday.   Perception research had been carried out in 2007 and again in 2012 which showed an increasing awareness of what the Kent Coast had to offer.

Question – The French have a positive, idealism about their tourism, how can we encourage positive promotion of Kent as a tourist destination?

(9)       Ruth pointed out that France had a lot more funding for tourism.  We have to develop the promotion of Kent in a modern and positive way; Interreg funding was helping to develop that supporting Visit Kent’s successful Kent Contemporary brand campaign

Question – In the UK young people perceive being a waiter or waitress as a servile role but in Europe Young people take a pride in this role – what can we do to improve the Kent young people’s perception of this role?

(10)     In relation to young peoples skills and perception on roles that support tourism, Ruth stated that Visit Kent were working with KCC on a hospitality guild concept and in the future may bid for European funding to help support this. Young people had been slow to recognise the opportunities for them in the tourist industry and the professional career opportunities within the sector.

Question – You say that there are 57m visitors to Kent, how do you measure this?

(11)     Ruth explained that Visit Kent used an industry recognised economic impact model, which used data, including occupancy figures for accommodation and visitor attraction figures; this data was combined and extrapolated with other data.  This could then be used to bench mark with other areas.  Ruth stated that 80% of the visitors to Kent were day visitors.

Question - How closely do you work with Kent Districts and the Kent Conference Bureau?

(12)     All the districts are investors in Visit Kent and have representation on the Visit Kent Board. Several districts have been paying partners in their European projects. Ruth stated that although Visit Kent worked with the Bureau they had not been involved with their bid for European funding. Regarding District Council visitor information centres, these played a key role in distributing tourist information leaflets and Visit Kent were working with Districts to look at how they provided visitor information to meet changing visitor needs.

Question – Some parts of Kent do not have the obvious coastline, countryside or heritage attractions for visitors, do we still promote these areas as, for example, within easy access to London?  Are we marketing the whole of Kent?

(13)     Ruth explained that Visit Kent’s brand was Kent the Garden of England and that within that visitors were not aware of District or area boundaries. There were definite key attractors such as Canterbury. However other areas such as Gravesend were indeed popular during the London Games due to their location and with Paramount could be a key destination in the future. . 

Question – What information do we have on visitor views on Kent and how do you respond to this information?

(14)     Ruth stated that Visit Kent did measure visitor satisfaction, which was used to highlight areas where Visit Kent and partners needed to target its work.  

Question - Could Visit Kent have a role in promoting work exchanges via European Funded projects?

(15)     Ruth agreed that this was a good suggestion which she would take forward.

Question – In relation to the Hardelot Centre in France the majority of the Kent population are not aware of it, what is its connection to Kent?  15 years ago there was talk of matching it with ‘horsiculture’ has anything happened about this?

(16)     Ruth explained that Visit Kent worked with the Education Department in France in relation to hosting familiarisation trips to Kent, Visit Kent also worked with teachers to spend time in Kent.  The Hadelot Centre provided a facility where Kent students could visit France and make exchange links with French students which could lead to reciprocal visits by French students and their parents to Kent.

Question – What are the challenges facing Visit Kent from the changes to European Funding?

(17)     Ruth explained that with the future of Interreg funding changing and tourism not being a specific funding stream this was more challenging for Visit Kent. They would be looking to access more diverse funding streams and work with KCC International team to identify new priorities such as jobs and economic growth to which tourism could make a significant contribution

(18)     The Chairman thanked Ruth attending the meeting and for assisting the Committee with their work.