Visit Peak District & Derbyshire, the organisation charged with promoting
the area to potential visitors, has announced record-breaking visitor-spend figures
following the publication of marketing campaign results this week.
Originally formed as ‘Visit Peak District’ in response to the crisis felt by
local tourism businesses during the Foot & Mouth outbreak of 2002, the partnership
was rolled out
to become Visit Peak District & Derbyshire in 2006. Acting as a mini tourist
board, the organisation's remit is to create more overnight stays and increase
tourism spend
in the area.
Research shows the work of Visit Peak District & Derbyshire’s marketing campaigns
in 2007/8 has contributed an additional £19 million to Derbyshire’s visitor economy,
as Chief Executive, David James, comments. “Our strategy is to lead with the iconic brand of the Peak District and disperse
visitors around the whole area once they’re here. We are naturally delighted with
the results, proving that our ‘attract and disperse’ strategy has really worked”.
Flagship publication, the Visit Peak District & Derbyshire Visitor Guide,
out-performed all its regional counterparts. Head of Marketing, David Bourque,
explains its success. “Return on investment measures the value of money spent in the area compared
with how much the campaign costs. In the case of the Visitor Guide, for every
£1 we spent, it brought in £44 to the area, which is a huge achievement, in fact
a 175 percent increase on last year.”
The research by University of Nottingham was commissioned by East Midlands Tourism.
It also measured return on investment results for the rest of the East Midlands.
“Looking forward, we will continue to build on our achievements, marketing to
visitors to encourage overnight stays and supporting our tourism industry to develop
a sustainable, quality offer”, said David James.
