Industry update #15

Five things to do now to prepare for reopening

1. Read up about VisitEngland’s new industry standard and consumer mark “We’re Good To Go”, and then get accredited for free: https://goodtogo.visitbritain.com/

2. Familiarise yourself with standards and guidance. There were several useful documents released by the Government last week plus a fantastic summary from UKHospitality which is a must-read for any business that welcomes guests and customers. Hot off the press today is guidance for managing Track and Trace at hospitality venues:

We are still waiting for standards and guidance be published for theatre, live music, performance and conference venues. We continue to work with local and national partners to lobby the government for these to be released.

3. Sign up for one or more of VisitEngland’s series of practical business recovery webinars which could help you become more sustainable, adapt to the new normal or brush up on tech skills:  https://www.visitbritain.org/visitengland-business-recovery-webinar-programme. And if you missed our partner meeting last week, you may want to watch it here.

4. Take a look at our Tourism and Hospitality Talent Hub to see how we can support individuals working with the tourism and hospitality sector that may have been displaced or laid off. The Hub also offers a variety of industry focused courses that can be used to upskill or retrain staff or former staff, including awards, certificates and diploma qualifications. For more information please get in touch with Margaret Bartnikiewicz via email: talenthub@growthco.uk or call 07503 620815.

5. Send us your reopening plans, news and images. If you have a full press release then great, please send it to  press@marketingmanchester.com and we’ll get it on the site and shout about it. However, even if you don’t have a press release please send us a few bullets detailing your opening date and plans so that we can update our What’s Open in Greater Manchester page on the website. It’s also important that we have the latest intel when contributing to regular radio shows such our weekly slot on BBC Radio Manchester on Friday mornings.

Marketing Manchester joins DMO call for government support

Marketing Manchester has joined Destination Management Organisations from across the country to back a campaign encouraging government to ensure the tourism sector is supported through winter 2020.

Last month a petition was launched by Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale alongside Cumbria Tourism, asking visitors, businesses and partners to show their backing for a government winter support package. The petition has quickly gained momentum including support from cross party politicians as well as National Park leaders. Now, Destination Management Organisations the length and breadth of the country are adding their weight.

Read the full press release here.

Manchester Misses You campaign – thank you!

Manchester Misses You, our campaign which provided visitors with vibrant virtual content including cultural and education experiences that could be enjoyed from home during lockdown, will shortly be transitioning into Find Your Space.

The response to Manchester Missed You was fantastic – so thank you.

In total we published 120 articles on the website, which has received over 63,000 visitors, 1.7 million impressions on Twitter and over 2.5 million impressions on Facebook.

We will keep the campaign page live so that those not yet ready to leave home can enjoy Greater Manchester virtually and those partners that cannot open yet can still promote themselves to such audiences via our channels; however, our new focus will now be to encourage audiences to get out and explore Greater Manchester’s rich and diverse leisure and tourism offer.

Partner news

Some welcome news from our partners that we think you should know about:

If you have your own news to share please email press@marketingmanchester.com FAO of Andy Parkinson. Please also add this email address to your media/press distribution lists.

Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis the Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub has been available to ensure that tourism and hospitality businesses are given the most up to date information including reopening standards and guidance. We have streamline the Hub to provide the most useful information; however, we will continue to deliver the service throughout the reopening of the visitor economy. Anyone who needs specific and detailed support should contact supporthub@marketingmanchester.com for bespoke help and advice.

Help The Growth Company be a mentoring matchmaker

Our parent company, The Growth Company has recently been successfully awarded the Be the Business Mentoring for Growth Programme national contract. The programme matches ambitious small and medium-sized businesses with experienced mentors from some of the UK’s leading businesses including GSK, Amazon and the John Lewis Partnership.

To date, 180 successful matches have already been made across Greater Manchester, Birmingham, the North East of England and London. This figure is set to increase to 1,000 by March 2020.

If you feel that you or a business that you know would benefit from the programme or would like further information, please email btbmentoring@growthco.uk. The eligibility criteria for SMEs across England is a minimum of 10+ employees in any sector, £2 million turnover and a key decision maker within the business.

Latest Links

  • Government guidance on the track and trace obligations has been published. UKHospitality has also produced its own industry best practice advice here and the ICO has published guidance on GDPR implications here
  • The flexible furlough scheme went live, allowing businesses to have the flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part-time basis time from today. The flexibility includes hours and shift patterns of employees. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme page has also been updated with new information, including employees being able to be recorded as on furlough during time spent on holiday, how to calculate furloughed hours for different sets of circumstances and how to treat statutory payments.
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