|
Bath & North East Somerset Council | |||
|
Tourism Committee |
AGENDA | |
MEETING DATE: |
29th June 2000 | ||
REPORT AUTHOR: |
Peter Rollins - Tourism & Marketing Manager (01225) 477742 | ||
RESPONSIBLE OFFICER: |
John Cox - Acting Head of Economic Development & Tourism | ||
TITLE: |
|||
WARD: |
ALL | ||
BACKGROUND PAPERS: None | |||
AN OPEN PUBLIC ITEM | |||
1 SUMMARY
1.1 This is a report brought to the attention of this Committee in order to examine the work of the Bath Tourism & Conference Bureau and the range of projects that it undertakes.
2 RECOMMENDATION
2.1 That the Committee notes the contents of this report and comments on the areas of activity.
3 RESOURCE AND CORPORATE POLICY IMPLICATIONS (WHERE NECESSARY, THE VIEWS OF THE COUNCIL'S STATUTORY OFFICERS ARE REFLECTED IN THE COMMENTS BELOW)
3.1 Financial: All activities are within the Committee's agreed budgets.
3.2 Staffing: All activities are carried out within the agreed staffing levels.
3.3 Equalities: The Tourism and Conference Bureau is committed to the Council's Equal Opportunities Policies and `Tourism for All'.
3.4 Economic: Tourism is a key industry generating in excess of £184 million per annum in the local economy.
3.5 Environment: The nature of the impact of tourist activity on local environments has many dimensions. The work of the Tourism Bureau will always concentrate on achieving a balance of these pressures to ensure maximum benefit within the local economy at a minimal environmental cost. It is a policy objective to develop and implement sustainable tourism.
3.6 Council Wide Impacts: The strategic objectives of the Tourism Bureau reflect the Council's Statement of Vision and Values. Tourism has a significant impact on a wide range of Council Services, including Heritage Services, Parking Services, Environmental Practice, Library and Property Services, involving co-ordinated action across Service areas.
4 BACKGROUND AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
4.1 Tourism Committee has stated its desire to receive an Activity Report which informs the meeting of the diverse and wide ranging series of initiatives that Bureau staff are involved in.
4.2 The four teams in the Tourism & Conference Bureau are:
· Leisure Marketing and Promotion
· Conference and Travel Trade Bureau
· Tourist Information Centre
· Film Office
5 BATH TOURISM & CONFERENCE BUREAU (BTCB) MARKETING & PROMOTIONS ACTIVITY REPORT
5.1 Publications:
The Bath & beyond Mini Guide was updated and reprinted in March. The new version focuses on attractions, shops, and tours and excursions in Bath and North East Somerset. The guide is on sale at Bath Tourist Information Centre, priced 50p.
A new guide to North East Somerset, `Rivers, Villages and Valleys' was launched in May by the new Chairman, Councillor Bryan Organ. Press coverage included Bath FM and Bath Chronicle, Chew Valley Gazette and BBC Radio Bristol. The guide is available from Bath Tourist Information Centre, priced £3.95.
Distribution of `Bath & beyond' and the overseas version, `Bath, Bristol & beyond' continued. 20,000 of the UK Guide are left in stock and all Overseas Guides have now been distributed through BTA offices, advertising and exhibitions. In particular the US campaign, `Britain's Heritage Cities' has generated demand for 4,000 English language Guides.
The mail order page of the current `Bath & beyond' has generated an income of £1,526.58 of sales from January to May. Publications for sale include self guided walks, guidebooks and maps.
The design and management of the Bath Guides for 2001-2003 was let out to tender in February. Initially, 45 expressions of interest were received with 12 design companies then invited to tender. A design company based in Batheaston, Sheard and Hudson was awarded the contract. Sheard and Hudson have undertaken extensive work for the British Tourist Authority. The design and sales process for the 2001 Guides began in May.
The new edition of the Bath Conference Directory was launched in February. The new Directory features 12 additional venues / suppliers and has a print run of 5,000. It includes information on meetings and conference facilities and ideas for corporate hospitality in and around Bath. 2,500 Conference Directories were distributed to conference organisers from the Bureau's database. A further 1,000 have been distributed in the first three months of publication through general enquiries, exhibitions and direct mail campaigns.
England's Heritage Cities (EHC) produced 6,000 copies of a new promotional overseas conference brochure and inserts featuring Bath, York, Chester & Stratford upon Avon. The brochure was officially launched at the European Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition in Geneva in May and is being distributed through BTA sales receptions, Exhibitions and via sales missions undertaken by specialist operator "Group North".
5.2 Exhibitions
The Bath, Bristol & Wiltshire partnership was repeated at the Vakantiebeurs exhibition in the Netherlands in January. A member of staff attended and a wide range of publications were distributed, including `Bath, Bristol & beyond'. This overseas Guide was also distributed through brochure racking at the following exhibitions:
- CMT Stuttgart, Reisen Hamburg, CBR Munich in Germany
- Mahana, Lyon and Tourissma, Lille in France
- AARP Orlando in the US, through Britain's Heritage Cities consortium
- Visit Britain Mission in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
BTCB shared a presence at Group Travel Fairs organised by South West Tourism in Thornbury, Swindon and Exeter. Bath Tourism and Conference Bureau attended the opening night of the Bath International Music Festival, sharing a marquee with the Bath Spa Project. The new display featuring Bath and North East Somerset proved particularly popular
BTCB exhibited at two specialist business tourism exhibitions in London earlier this year in partnership with Bristol. The Confex show at Earls Court attracted a large number of conference organisers from companies, associations and agencies - generated a total of 70 enquires which are currently being followed up.
Bath & North East Somerset was represented on the British Association of Conference Destinations (BACD) stand at the Crème Show, which targeted Secretaries and PA's responsible for organising meetings and conferences.
Bath and Bristol exhibited at British Travel Trade Fair at the National Exhibition Centre in March. Over sales 100 leads were generated including 44 UK tour operators and agents, 20 from overseas, 2 tourist boards, two tour guiding companies and 10 media contacts.
Bath & North East Somerset was also represented at European Incentive Business Travel and Meetings (EIBTM) exhibition in Geneva on 23rd May. This event generated 28 Incentive Agents, 6 airlines and 15 corporate enquiries.
5.3 Advertisements:
The advertising undertaken during the Christmas/New Year period continued to generate enquiries and requests for `Bath & beyond'. Advertisements were placed in `Freetime' and `Country Walking' magazines to support editorial on Bath & North East Somerset. A free advertisement was also placed in the `Oldie' magazine, in return for the assistance given by the Tourism and Conference Bureau to the magazine when bringing their literary lunch to Bath.
Overseas advertising was taken through BTA publications which have proved the most effective medium. Advertisements were placed in Britain Extra Canada, Britain Extra Ireland, Britain Extra Germany, Britain Insider Germany, Travel Trade Newsletter Germany and Britain Extra France.
The Britain's Heritage Cities consortium secured a full page advertorial in `Time to Travel' aimed at the mature US market. As mentioned earlier this has generated a staggering demand for 4,000 brochures.
BTCB placed an entry in The Meetings and Events Industry Handbook and took a ¼ page advert in Executive PA Magazine.
5.4 Familiarisation Visits:
Visit by Overseas Travel Agents
BTCB arranged an afternoon itinerary for eight US travel agents in March. Despite the rain the agents enjoyed a guided tour of Bath followed by afternoon tea at the Pump Room. They were so enthralled by the Roman Baths and plans for the Bath Spa Project that they voted to take a later train back.
Tours, suggestions, proposals, visitor programmes, meetings and general assistance was given to agents organising the following high profile conferences taking place in Bath;
· IT Company European Relaunch
· World Congress on Family Law and the Rights of Children
5.5 Press and PR
Visits by press from the UK:
During this period BTCB assisted with UK press visits from South London Press, `Home' magazine, Hounslow and Richmond Chronicle, and the web-site, `wordonline'. Bath Tourism Bureau also assisted The Guardian Travel section with a feature on walking on Solsbury Hill and the Daily Telegraph which focused on walking tours of Bath. A previous press visit from the Times also generated a full page feature on shopping in the Travel section, and a visit last year from the travel writer, Robin Mead, resulted in a three page article in `Pride of Britain'. National editorial was also secured in the Radio Times and `Woman and Home'.
Visits by press from overseas: BTCB also assisted with eight overseas press visits. These were Metro Radio in Hong Kong, Gulf Radio, the Canadian web-site `worldlandmarks', American travel writers for `Travel Life' and `Woman's Day' magazines, and the guidebook, `Europe through the Back Door', `British Heritage Magazine, French `Vogue', and a Japanese travel writer from Mainichi Newspapers. Overseas editorial included `Healing Retreats and Spas' (US), `National Geographic Traveller' (US) as the result of press familiarisation visits organised in 1999. British Heritage magazine
BTCB produced eight press releases, gaining coverage in local newspapers and radio. Topics included the new Conference Directory and launch of the new guide to North East Somerset, `Rivers, Villages and Valleys'.
5.6 Market Research
Bath Tourism Bureau has undertaken a programme of research to gain more management information on both the local tourism accommodation industry and museums and attractions.
The Accommodation Occupancy Survey has been monitoring occupancy rates in participating establishments in Bath and North East Somerset. Since January participating serviced and self catering businesses have been supplying monthly statistics on bed and room occupancy. South West Tourism has been collating the data and will be producing reports.
In partnership with Heritage Services and South West Tourism, Bath Tourism Bureau is also researching visitor figures for museums and attractions in Bath and North East Somerset. Again monthly statistics are being supplied by participating attractions.
It is intended that both exercises will supply Bath Tourism Bureau not only with a clear "snapshot" of the tourism industry in Bath and North East Somerset but also critical business trends.
6 CONSULTATION AND PRESENTATIONS
6.1 A Tourism Forum was organised by Bath Tourism and Conference Bureau in March and held in the Guildhall. Presentations were held by Tourism Task Force, City Centre Initiative Team, and the local tour operator, Compass Holidays. Attendance from the local tourism industry was good. The next Tourism Forum will be held in Norton Radstock.
6.2 The Local Government Association's Annual Culture and Tourism Conference took place in Bristol in March and featured a study tour of Bath and North East Somerset. The Heritage and Tourism tour visited Envolve, the Bath Spa Project and Radstock Museum.
6.3 Bath also hosted a visit by the Research and Development team of the English Tourism Council which resulted in a joint initiative to investigate the potential of Health Tourism.
6.4 As part of the Tourism Society's Annual General Meeting a study tour was coordinated by the Tourism Bureau, which involved a presentation on the Bath Spa Project.
6.5 The new Head of Operations of South West Tourism (formerly the West Country Tourist Board) made a study tour of Bath and met with staff from Bath Tourism Bureau and the Bath Spa Project.
6.6 A series of presentations to local venues have been undertaken by Bath Tourism & Conference Bureau to promote understanding of the new conference enquiry handling system and to strengthen and develop working relationships.
7 IT DEVELOPMENT
7.1 Development and data imputing has enabled the "Chaser" conference enquiry handling system to produce detailed reports to be distributed to venues in June.
7.2 A new digital library has been developed by the Bureau which will enable images of Bath & North East Somerset to be efficiently stored and distributed.
8 OTHER MARKETING & OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES
8.1 England's Heritage Cities (EHC) - the official launch of the EHC campaign took place at the European Incentive Business Travel and Meetings exhibition in Geneva on 23rd May. Conference venues in Bath and corporate hospitality ideas are featured in the inaugural guide targeting primary markets in Scandinavia, Benelux and Germany. `Group North', a specialist destination marketing company, are working closely with the cities to organise familiarisation visits from overseas buyers over the next six months to raise awareness of the EHC product. A dedicated web-site is currently being developed (www.conferencesinengland.com); the first in a series of sales receptions hosted by overseas BTA offices will take place in Copenhagen aimed at overseas buyers.
8.2 Ambassadors Programme - the Chairman of the Council will launch the Ambassadors' programme at the Bath Spa Hotel on 21st June. Invitations have been sent to some 45 key professionals residing in the Bath area who are affiliated to national associations. The aim of the Ambassadors' luncheons will be to encourage associations to consider using Bath as a destination for future conferences and explain the role of the Tourism & Conference Bureau in assisting with future events.
8.3 Delegate Placements - in the period February to June, five delegate placement programmes ere carried out involving over 2000 delegates and up to 25 venues around the area.
9 CONFERENCE ENQUIRIES & PROPOSALS
Month |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 | |||
Total Enq |
Proposals |
Total Enq |
Proposals |
Total Enq |
Proposals | |
January |
24 |
6 |
55 |
17 |
47 |
22 |
Feb. |
85 |
14 |
45 |
23 |
40 |
32 |
March |
31 |
11 |
206 |
18 |
102 |
23 |
April |
62 |
17 |
47 |
25 |
43 |
22 |
May |
29 |
14 |
49 |
30 |
29 |
22 |
June |
131 |
19 |
119 |
23 |
||
July |
38 |
22 |
30 |
15 |
||
August |
132 |
19 |
24 |
7 |
||
Sept. |
44 |
16 |
25 |
13 |
||
October |
109 |
24 |
92 |
23 |
||
Nov. |
28 |
4 |
41 |
19 |
||
Dec. |
27 |
8 |
17 |
6 |
||
|
TOTAL |
740 |
174 |
750 |
219 |
||
Month |
Enquires |
Est. Value |
January 2000 |
47 |
£466,637.00 |
February 2000 |
40 |
£465,629.00 |
March 2000 |
102 |
£209,200.00 |
April 2000 |
43 |
£356,250.00 |
May 2000 |
29 |
£268,705.00 |
10 TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
MONTH |
TIC ENQUIRIES |
TIC ACCOMMODATION BOOKINGS | ||||
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 | |
January |
16,513 |
15,459 |
19,815 |
328 |
277 |
270 |
February |
26,651 |
21,319 |
24,042 |
474 |
491 |
468 |
March |
36,470 |
29,238 |
32,333 |
637 |
604 |
542 |
April |
35,492 |
25,970 |
29,829 |
777 |
758 |
709 |
May |
56,169 |
41,120 |
40,513 |
1,168 |
1,123 |
835 |
June |
33,234 |
50,025 |
1,356 |
1,251 |
||
July |
57,613 |
57,642 |
1,679 |
1,432 |
||
August |
60,211 |
53,418 |
1,605 |
1,450 |
||
September |
43,884 |
41,254 |
1,500 |
1,293 |
||
October |
37,987 |
35,026 |
1,133 |
981 |
||
November |
28,696 |
25,296 |
506 |
585 |
||
December |
17,179 |
15,319 |
285 |
282 |
||
TOTAL |
450,099 |
411,086 |
11,448 |
10,527 |
||
11 BATH FILM OFFICE JANUARY - MAY 2000
11.1 The year has started well, and the Office has had a very busy five months. Production enquiries dealt with total 115, which resulted in 67 days filming by 43 companies.
Month |
Production Enquiries |
General Enquiries |
Total Enquiries |
Total Filming Days |
May 2000 |
18 |
12 |
30 |
22 |
April 2000 |
18 |
11 |
29 |
8 |
March 2000 |
36 |
8 |
44 |
12 |
February 2000 |
19 |
11 |
30 |
13 |
January 2000 |
24 |
19 |
43 |
12 |
TOTAL |
115 |
61 |
176 |
67 |
11.2 Assistance was given to the following productions (Fuller monthly report details are available from the Bath Film Commissioner):
Date |
Production |
Production Company |
No of days Filming |
30/5 31/5 |
NHU Song of the Earth (David Attenborough) |
BBC |
2 |
29/5 31/5 |
Watercolour Challenge for C4 |
Planet 24 |
2 |
26/5 |
Raspberry Tart |
HTV |
1 |
21/5 |
Roman Baths |
ZDF (Germany) |
1 |
15-19/5 |
Style Street for UK Living |
NMTV |
5 |
16,18 19/5 |
Festival Opening Night Show |
HTV |
3 |
11/5 |
Look Back 2000 in Radstock |
HTV |
1 |
10/5 11/5 |
Case TV on Microworld |
C4 |
1 |
9/5 |
Raspberry Tart Title Sequence |
HTV |
1 |
7/5 |
Filming for Web-site |
Electronic Global (US) |
1 |
6/5 |
Short Circuit |
BBC |
1 |
5/5 |
PBS (USA) series on Roman Empire |
Goldfarb & Koval |
1 |
3/5 |
What did the Romans Ever Do for Us? |
BBC Science |
1 |
28 /4 |
Collectors Lot |
Two Four Productions |
1 |
27/4 |
Songs of Praise WWI programme |
BBC |
1 |
15/4 |
Young Single & Female |
HTV |
1 |
14/4 |
Gainsborough Video |
Cromwell Productions |
1 |
13/4 |
Audio Programme |
Open University |
1 |
1-2/4 |
Workshop |
HTV |
2 |
28/4 |
Various Local Programmes - vox pop |
HTV |
1 |
30/3 |
Havakazoo |
HTV |
1 |
22/3 |
Culture Snax |
BBC2 |
2 |
21/3 |
Rugby TV Coverage |
BBCSport |
1 |
21/3 |
She's Gotta Have It |
Talkback Productions |
1 |
18/3 |
CD Rom |
Open City |
1 |
18/3 |
Coca Cola Advert for India |
MAD Entertainment |
1 |
17/3 |
Secret Suburbia |
Red Door for UK Living |
1 |
15/3 |
Microworld |
Fuji TV |
1 |
15/3 |
Festival First Night Pre-recording |
HTV |
1 |
3/3 18/3 |
Marry Me |
BBC Bristol |
2 |
25/2 |
Timeslice Filming - video promotion |
AVTV |
1 |
24/2 |
CNN Travel show |
ARTV |
1 |
10/2 |
Look Back (Keynsham) |
HTV |
1 |
7/2 8/2 |
Drug Company Video |
Hourglass Productions |
2 |
2/2 |
Item on British Architecture for C4 |
Uden Associates |
1 |
1/2-4/2 |
Other Peoples Children |
BBC |
4 |
1/ 2 |
Microworld item for US TV |
Via UK crew |
1 |
1/ 2 |
Series on Celts |
Electric Eye |
1 |
1/ 2 |
Punchbag |
HTV |
1 |
24/1 |
Food & Drink Programme |
BBC |
1 |
17/1 |
The Road to Riches |
BBC Docs |
1 |
13/1 14/1 |
Crimewatch UK |
BBC |
2 |
11/1 |
Rugby Match Coverage |
BBC Sport |
1 |
10/1 |
Travel Programme for Japan |
Telesearch Productions |
1 |
7/1 |
Discovery series on renovating houses |
Illumina Productions |
1 |
6/1 7/1 |
Advertorial Photo Shoot |
The Independent |
2 |
5/1 |
Watchdog |
BBC |
1 |
4/1 |
Day at the Dome video |
Brewer Productions |
1 |
11.3 The following programmes featuring locations in B&NES have been transmitted:
· BBC Holiday programme featuring The Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath in general and the Kennet & Avon Canal. 1500telephone enquiries in all as a result.
· BBC Close Up feature on the Combe Down mines and the local community.
· Fred Dibnah's BBC 1 series about industrial architecture featured the Building of Bath Museum, The Circus and the Baths.
· BBC's Happy Birthday Shakespeare shown at primetime over Easter Holiday - good coverage for Bath.
· BBC Crimewatch UK dedicated whole programme to series of attacks on Bath women.
· HTV featured Bath, Chew Valley, Keynsham & Norton-Radstock (Look Back 2000 series).
· CNN Citybreak programme shown world-wide in three transmissions.
11.4 Other activities:
· Advice & assistance to Anne Bull, Director of the B&NES Day at the Dome children's performance in terms of their video, publicity and coverage by Brewer's Productions
· Site visit to Corsham Studios and discussions with Director on future of site and a potential partnership.
· Continuing to increase location library, plus researching and recce-ing the area. Additions include public schools of Kingswood, Prior Park, Downside, Monkton Combe.
· Liaising with SWFC on publication of new Crew and Services Directory. Entries risen from 600 to >1000. Continuing to receive new information on B&NES area crew etc.
· Attended quarterly meeting of the UKSCN. Offered Bath as a venue for Network seminars.
· Attended meetings of and elected to Board of Channel West, the media association of the Bath-Bristol area.
· Research on potential databases and website design
· Discussions with Mogers Solicitors re possible joint location seminar &future partnership
· Presentation to the Executive Association of Great Britain about the economic impact of filming and the work of the Bath Film Office.
· Liaising with the Bath Festival Director on potential locations for 2001
· Continuing liaison with Miramax over their Production of "Chocolat". Likely spend in the Bath/Wiltshire area is forecast in six figures.
12 STAFFING
12.1 As a result of the retirement of Yvonne Hearn and departure of Deborah Johnson and Pippa Jenkins, Edwina d'Arcy, Nicola Radford and Fiona Humphreys joined the team at the Tourism and Conference Bureau. In the Tourist Information Centre Katherine Blagrove will be replacing Deborah Flower as a Tourist Information Centre Officer.
13 CONSULTATION
13.1 This report has not been sent to Trades Unions because it does not raise any staffing issues.
MEETING: