We continue to direct our resource to support our members and will be working on their behalf with GM stakeholders and national tourism bodies to represent them and to provide business support and guidance during this time.
Manchester Misses You campaign
The campaign, featured on the Visit Manchester website provides visitors with vibrant virtual content including cultural and education experiences from across Greater Manchester, that can be enjoyed from home.
The response to the campaign has been fantastic, we have published over 60 articles on the website, which has received 32,000 visitors over the past few weeks, 470,000 impressions on Twitter and over 1million impressions on Facebook.
We need more of your great content to share across our channels to keep feeding the campaign and showcasing the breath of our brilliant destination. Recent features include;
- 18 secrets and interesting facts about into Trafford Centre
- A virtual tour of The Monastery Manchester
- 101 treasures of Chetham’s
Please send all contributions to stuart.aiken@marketingmanchester.com.
Greater Manchester Economic Recovery Plan
Marketing Manchester is working with colleagues from The Greater Manchester LEP, GMCA and The Growth Company to prepare a recovery campaign as part of Mayor Andy Burnham’s drive to Build Back Better. Plans are shaping up and will be shared with you as soon as possible. The campaign will aim to build confidence and trust in business, resident and visitor audiences. Communications will focus on the standards across workspace settings, transport settings and public & communal spaces, underpinned by behavioural insights. The campaign will have three strands that target 1) Business 2) Residents 3) Visitors
Further information contact Victoria.braddock@marketingmanchester.com
Marketing Manchester End of Year Results 19/20
Marketing Manchester produced strong end of year results for 19/20, despite the challenging circumstances in the final quarter created by COVID-19.
Latest figures reveal that tourism in Greater Manchester was at an all-time high, worth £9million to the local economy and supporting over 100,000 jobs.
A number of key events and activities ensured that Greater Manchester’s profile on a national and international stage remained high during the year.
- Marketing Manchester and NYC & Company, New York City’s official destination marketing organisation, signed a first-ever official city-to-city tourism partnership agreement in January 2020. The first element of the partnership was a media asset swap worth $1million.
- The Manchester Garden was launched at RHS Chelsea Flower Show (21-25 May), promoting Greater Manchester to an entirely new audience and demographic ahead of RHS Bridgewater in Salford next year. 160,000 visitors attended the Show which created over 14 hours of prime-time television and won a Silver Award within the Space to Grow category. The garden was returned to GM and all plants went to Wythenshawe Hall and supported the parks network across Manchester.
- A USA Partner Campaign with Visit Britain & Virgin Atlantic resulted in Total reach 235m consumers, with engagement rates of 550,000 and film views of 3.8m.
- The Ctrip (largest Online Travel Agency in China) partnership campaign with Marketing Manchester had a reach of 264m.
- Final reach figures for activity around the Cricket World Cup have been calculated. There were 3.5billion global views of the Manchester content that Marketing Manchester created.
- The total economic impact of successful conference bids secured for Greater Manchester in 19/20 was £35million.
- As part of the Growth Company, the Tourism Hospitality Talent Hub was successfully launched.
- Visitmanchester.com has had an excellent year with 900,000 additional visitors to the site over target, with a total of 3.8million unique visitors.
- Marketing Manchester worked with Visit England on the roll out of TXGB, the new b2b booking platform that connects tourism product suppliers with international distribution channels such as travel agents and OTAs.
- Marketing Manchester hosted 131 international media on press trips to Greater Manchester, engaged an additional 177 in-market, alongside hundreds of media relations enquiries. Ranging from print media, broadcast, blogs and social posts – reaching an audience of 907 million (OTS).
Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub
To make sure that tourism and hospitality businesses are given the most up to date information, we continue to service the Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub to signpost and connect the sector to advice, webinars, support and guidance across a variety of areas.
The Hub includes a series of FAQs. If you have any specific questions or would like to talk to someone, we have set up an email address and number to contact us on: supporthub@marketingmanchester.com
Government Launches ‘Support Finder’ Tool
A new ‘support finder’ tool has been launched to help businesses and self-employed people across the UK to determine what financial support is available to them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tool on www.gov.uk asks business owners and the self-employed to fill out a simple online questionnaire. Users are then directed to a list of all the financial support they may be eligible for.
Employ GM
Employ GM is a new initiative from The Growth Company, which connects employers who have urgent temporary vacancies with individuals across Greater Manchester, who are available to start working straight away during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Useful links
Business support and advice
- UK Government Business Support
- UK Government guidance for employers and businesses
- New guidance for employers and employees regarding the CJRS
- UK Government advice for accommodation providers
- VisitBritain UK travel industry advice
- VisitBritain Business Advice Hub
- Local Authority Grant Funding
- Marketing Manchester Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub
- Business Growth Hub resource portal
- UKHospitality advice for the hospitality industry
- UKHospitality guidance on business continuity, including for accommodation premises
- ACAS practical information on coronavirus
- Manchester City Council information for businesses and employers
- Cash Grant for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
- HMRC Guidance on Self-Employment Support
- HMRC Guidance on allowable expenses, trading profits and total income inclusions
- Hospitality leasehold protection information
- Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
Health and well being
- Public Health England: what you need to know
- NHS advice
- UK Government guidance on staying at home and away from others
- Stay at home guidance for people with confirmed or possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection
- Safe working guidance
- Use of public transport for those who have to
- Travelling safely
- How to carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment
- Cleaning your workplace safely
Surveys, workshops and webinars
- 14th May – Webinar – NewsCorp Webinar on the Future of Tourism
- Multiple dates – Webinar – Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – How to make a claim
- Multiple dates – Webinar – Coronavirus COVID-19 Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme
- Webinar – helping employers to support employees
- Webinar – job retention scheme webinars
- Survey – Heritage Lottery Fund
- Workshop – Free online workshops from Tourism Knowhow
Other