Industry Update: 21 April

Hotel partners invited to join Have A Night On Us campaign

There is still time for accommodation providers to sign up to our upcoming short breaks campaign Have A Night On Us, which will launch on Monday 17 May – subject to a successful move to Step Three of the Government’s roadmap – and is focused on promoting overnight visits from outside Greater Manchester.

The campaign, which has been developed in partnership with the Manchester Hoteliers Association, leads with a simple offer for consumers to book two nights and stay a third night for free. This offer will help visitors extend their stay in Greater Manchester and therefore increase their overall spend within the tourism economy. Visitors will book their rooms directly from the Visit Manchester website and fulfilment of the bookings will be made through VisitEngland’s intermediary platform, TXGB.

Have A Night On Us is part of Marketing Manchester’s wider Summer in the City campaign which outlines all of the fantastic things that visitors can do in Greater Manchester this summer. Both campaigns will be supported by significant media spend and web traffic to the Summer in the City microsite will heavily push the Have A Night On Us offer.

You can view the customer journey by visiting the Summer in the City microsite and following the Have A Night On Us prompts. Six hotels have so far signed up to be part of the campaign and have loaded their availability into TXGB. If you would like to join the campaign, please contact Emma.Gordon@marketingmanchester.com to find out more.

Additional ways that partners can support recovery

All partners and stakeholders can play a part in supporting the recovery of Greater Manchester’s visitor economy, firstly by ensuring that their front line are fully briefed on the latest news and developments, and also by using your own social media channels to share positive news and content.

There are several resources available to help brief frontline staff. In each edition of this newsletter we share a link to our latest events calendar (below), which is regularly updated with everything that we know is due to take place in Greater Manchester including key sport events, performances and conferences. This is a great resource for frontline staff to keep abreast of the latest goings on and to supplement this we would also recommend staff keep an eye on our list of What’s newly opened and coming soon in Greater Manchester – Spring/Summer 2021, which is kept regularly up to date with news about what we think will be some of the key drivers of tourism in the coming months.

In addition to these internal resources, our digital team is working hard to make sure that there is always great content available for you to use publicly on your own social media channels and inspire visitors. The blog area of visitmanchester.com is one of the best places to find things to share and shout about; whether that’s the latest news about Greater Manchester attractions and upcoming events, our weekly blog which lists the best things to do in Greater Manchester each week, or features such as this one which gives visitors the insider view on our most interesting neighbourhoods. Of course, the Visit Manchester website also has an extensive and searchable What’s On section which is a great way to spot the latest events to amplify.

By sharing content on social media that links back to the official Visit Manchester website you direct traffic to a one-stop shop where potential visitors can also book accommodation, tours, tickets and activities that will secure their intention to visit our region.

UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2021

The UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS) is vital research into the conference and meetings market and we would like to encourage all business tourism partners to take part if possible, as the results help to shape policy within the industry.

The survey will collect information on the January-March 2020 period (i.e. pre-lockdown) and data that is available on any small events that took place over the summer and autumn periods in 2020. Using this data, the survey will calculate the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities for the sector.

All participating venues will receive a free, personalised summary report enabling them to benchmark their performance against comparable venues nationwide. The deadline for completion of the survey is the end of 28 May.

To complete the survey, please click here.

VisitEngland Annual Attractions Survey now open

Attractions are now being invited to take part in VisitEngland’s Annual Attractions Survey – a major audit of the attractions sector that aims to establish sector trends. This year the survey is particularly important as it will help VisitEngland understand the impact of the pandemic on attractions in 2020.

Last year around 1,300 attractions took part nationally in the survey, which generates considerable media interest and the results will be published as official statistics by VisitEngland. Attractions who take part will also receive a personalised benchmarking report comparing their own results against similar attractions.

The survey is now open until 28 May 2021. If you haven’t received an invite to the survey and would like to take part, please contact annualattractionssurvey@visitengland.org

To find out more and read the results of last year’s survey, please click here.

Government DMO review – your input needed

The Department for Digital Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) has launched a review of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in England. As Marketing Manchester is the DMO for Greater Manchester, the outcomes of the review when published in late summer may have an impact on our activities.

As part of the review, Government is seeking stakeholder views on DMO priorities, activities, and funding and we would like to encourage all partners to contribute to the review via the online survey here by the deadline of 28 April 2021.

Before taking part in the survey you may want to read the this briefing paper that we have created, which sets out the background to the review, Marketing Manchester’s current role and deliverables, and also the outcomes that we would like from the review. In brief, we seek support for Government core funding for Marketing Manchester and greater devolution of activities.

It would be particularly helpful if views reflect and refer to the strong collaborations and sector partnerships that we support alongside private and public stakeholders across Greater Manchester, in particular across tourism, hospitality and leisure.

If you would like to discuss the survey before taking part, please email Nick.Brooks-Sykes@marketingmanchester.com

 In case you missed it: our new visitor handbook

In preparation for reopening Greater Manchester’s visitor economy, we have created the Visit Manchester Insider’s Handbook. Packed with ideas and inspiration for things to do, see, eat, as well as places to stay, this new 40-page handbook includes dedicated pages detailing what’s new and coming soon as well as maps and spotlight pages on Greater Manchester’s towns, boroughs and coolest neighbourhoods.

Curated by the Marketing Manchester press team, and aiming to showcase as many of our partners as possible, the consumer-facing Visit Manchester Insider’s Handbook is an ideal tool for helping guests and visitors plan their visit, and is equally useful as a resource for business clients that want to be kept up to date with the latest happenings in Greater Manchester, as well as staff relocation.

The Visit Manchester Insider’s Handbook is available to view here and specific versions for media and travel trade audiences are also available. If you would like a PDF copy of the Insider’s or Media version please email press@marketingmanchester.com. For PDF or print copy requests for the Travel Trade version please email traveltrade@marketingmanchester.com.

Partner and sector news

Each week we provide a list of suggested links, reading and actions that our partners may find useful across the various sectors we promote.

Tourism and Hospitality Business 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.  In addition, our colleagues in the Business Growth Hub have launched a new suite of support services specifically aimed at tourism and hospitality businesses who need practical advice at this current time. Anyone who needs specific and detailed support should contact: supporthub@marketingmanchester.com. 

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