attract marketing

Herbert Virtual Tour | The Herbert

2012-01-30T14:37:00.000Z

Herbert Virtual Tour The Herbert

Have a look round The Herbert Art Galley and Museum in Coventry for interesting spaces to hire and use

William MacNamara and the Flying Boat

2012-01-23T16:58:00.001Z

William MacNamara and Flying Boat, a photo by Boxbrownie3 on Flickr.

Supporting a client!

Why the Dickens are they closing this museum now? | News

2012-01-18T09:36:00.000Z

Why the Dickens are they closing this museum now? News

Olympics Park Project for Attract

2012-01-13T17:26:00.001Z

Olympics Park

Attract recently delivered a market assessment and business, marketing strategy and operating plan for a post Games project on the Olympics Park for Ecovert FM, UK industry leader in Total Facilities Management. The project included validation and assessment of the potential market, revenue and cost forecasts for catering, retail, access, licensing, operations, ticketing and cash handling.

Attract was assisted on this project by Richard Pawley (VTP Global), Mary Tebje (MTA Tourism Leisure), Jane Dean (Jane Dean Associates) and Lisa Hatswell (Lisa Hatswell Consultancy/Unique Venues of London) Andrew Potts (Wright Hassall), John Davies (Omniticket).

The London Arts Scene

2012-01-11T10:19:00.000Z

A new, amusing and thoughtful personal blog on the London Arts Scene by Frances Richens here

Attract client walks to the South Pole

2012-01-04T14:56:00.001Z

William McNamara OBE

Walking to the Southpole - William McNamara OBE is used to a challenge, in fact he’s become quite adept at them with his role as CEO of Bluestone and chairman of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust/Flying Boat Centre, one of Attract's clients, yet he’s sure to face his biggest challenge to date as he undertakes the ultimate adventure – an expedition to the South Pole. William has been fascinated by Antarctica for many years. It is a continent of superlatives, the largest, the highest, the coldest, the driest on the planet. The aim of the walk is to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The aim is to forge an ongoing relationship with Teenage Cancer Trust so that Bluestone can provide quality, fun, short break experiences for families of cancer sufferers and maybe national events bringing many similarly effected families together. Bluestone is a significant new business within the National Park, Pembrokeshire and indeed Wales. It has impressive social economic and environmental credentials which are entirely appropriate in this day and age. As William says "It has indeed been a great privilege but also a significant responsibility to be given the sanction to build and operate such a business in beautiful countryside in a stunning part of West Wales. Thus compassion, benevolence and creative partnerships to make a real difference within our communities are entirely appropriate whilst maintaining strong financial objectives."

More on William McNamara's walk to the South Pole and his fundraising efforts here http://www.90degreessouth.co.uk/

Millionth Visitor Mosaic | The Herbert

2011-12-14T14:45:00.000Z

Millionth Visitor Mosaic The Herbert

The Herbert at Coventry celebrates its 1,000,000th visitor with an amazing mosaic of Sir Alfred Herbert the eponymous benefactor and machine tool magnate. See here to see how the mosaic is made up of individual images.

Book Review - Aviation and Tourism: Implications for Leisure Travel

2011-12-01T11:42:00.043Z

Current interest in Boris Johnson's (and Lord Foster's) ideas for a new London airport prompted me to dig out my review of Aviation and Tourism: Implications for Leisure Travel.

Reading this densely packed compilation of studies of the relation between aviation and tourism, I pondered on the intended readership. The editors say that they '...continue to be surprised at the failure of academia, government, industry and other stakeholders to fully recognise and appreciate the close and complex relationships which exist between aviation and tourism, particularly when leisure travel is concerned.' This motivated them to get '26 distinguished experts ' to contribute.

All those stakeholders have plenty on their desks to contemplate; ranging from the third runway at Heathrow, the future economics of the airline sector, and energy prices, while the tourism industry itself is under severe pressure and all this within the scenario of the cliché of the credit crunch - help!

Trying to read this book in one go is not for the faint hearted. There is a great deal of detail and the sheer scale of the attempted reach of the book is slightly intimidating. My own review copy is annotated with pencilled remarks and has a liberal profusion of 'post it notes' for future reference. So who is the book for? It provides a useful single source for those wanting either an overall view or others needing the detail of aspects of a particular theme.

The book is well structured starting with a brief over view and followed by seven parts covering leisure travel demand, regulation, airline issues, the implications for airports, economic and environmental impacts and some destination case studies followed by a round up of conclusions, themes and future issues. Separate papers within each section look at aspects of the main theme.

So, this book is perhaps essential reading for both students and for those who have difficult decisions to make on the future strategy of the aviation and tourism sector.

Review written by Nick Booker, Attract Marketing director and originally published in the Tourism Society's quarterly Journal

Aviation and Tourism: Implications for Leisure Travel

Credit(s): Anne Graham, Andreas Papatheodorou and Peter Forsyth

Publisher's name, year of publication: Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2008

ISBN: 978-0-7546-7189-9

Number of pages: 377

Museum Volunteering - Archive Crew have history on their hands

2011-11-25T12:31:00.001Z

A vigorous volunteers' programme is a sine qua non for most small attractions and museums. The Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust that set up and run the Flying Boat Centre in Pembrokeshire is a good example as a recent press release demonstrates.

Pembroke Dock’s 200 years of history is in excellent hands. For the past 12 months a dedicated team has been cataloguing, recording and conserving a remarkable and wide ranging collection - covering so many facets of a community with a proud military and social history. They are members of the ‘Archive Crew’ at the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust’s Archive Centre, currently located in the town’s historic Market Building.
Under the guidance of Archive Manager and Curator Dave Pring they have, in the first year of operation, worked on over 12,000 items, from photographs and documents to uniforms, aircraft equipment and ships models. Items from the Haven Sunderland flying boat, serial T9044, are among the artefacts.

“It is a remarkable collection and we have only really scratched the surface,” said Dave, an IT specialist and qualified trainer. “The Pembroke Dock Collection includes important individual collections and those from service organisations and the town’s Museum Trust. It is hugely significant nationally and internationally as well, as we are constantly reminded as we receive many enquiries and requests from all over the world. Tracing family history is a major area of interest here.”

Dave and his team of 12 volunteers estimate that they have a 20 year project ahead of them, as new artefacts and material come to the Centre all the time. The archiving and recording work being carried for the Sunderland Trust is recognised as achieving the highest standards in Wales and the skills being taught to the band of volunteers is likewise of the top order.
“The team is hugely enthusiastic and developing so many skills,” added Dave. “Some of the team also volunteer at the very popular Flying Boat Centre and the Trust is fortunate to have so many committed volunteers.”

* New volunteers are welcome and should get in contact with the Sunderland Trust (01646 623425) or PAVS.

The Sunderland Trust Archive Crew came together to mark the first successful year of operation. Pictured are, left to right: Back row: Judith Davies and Glynnis Iles (Sunderland Trust Project Team); Iona Thomas, Trish Pritchard, Mary Meldrum, Barry Clark, Kay Hancock, Margaret Clark, Pari Taheran, Chris Howell. Front row: Malcolm Miles, Tony Craney, Dave Pring and Colin Hancock.

PICTURE: Sunderland Trust.

Attractions Management - ArcelorMittal Orbit reaches full height

2011-11-05T13:47:00.000Z

Attractions Management - ArcelorMittal Orbit reaches full height

Dan Snow dives in on wartime history

2011-08-20T11:26:00.003+01:00

Dan Snow and Nick Hammond, a photo by Boxbrownie3 on Flickr.

National exposure for Attract client, The Flying Boat Centre aka Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust. Press/Public Relations is a low cost way of raising profile for small attractions on tight budgets but it requires well written press releases, good stories, persistence and an up to date circulation list. John Evans the Project Manager at PDST is an exemplar - not only an expert on all things to do with flying boats but also knows how to write good copy

Television presenter Dan Snow has taken the plunge on an unique aviation survivor in Pembrokeshire.

In challenging diving conditions, Dan joined members of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust Dive Group to explore the wartime Sunderland flying boat which sank off the town 70 years ago.

He was filmed on the Sunderland - together with the Dive Group’s Nick Hammond - and the film will be shown on the BBC One prime time evening programme The One Show in September.

A film crew from 360 Production spent two days in Pembroke Dock. As well as diving on Sunderland T9044 - from the dive boat ‘Blue Thunder’ - they filmed at the Flying Boat Centre where Dan interviewed Wing Commander Derek Martin, Patron of the Sunderland Trust. In September 1940, just weeks before it sank, Wing Commander Martin flew T9044.

“Dan was amazed at what is left of our Sunderland,” said Nick Hammond, whose rediscovery of the wreck over ten years ago has led to the recovery of so many items from it.

“As so often when we dive on T9044, the conditions were difficult but Dan got a close view on part of the wreck and the cameraman had some good footage. We can’t wait to see The One Show programme.”

Anniversaries in 1912

2011-08-17T09:31:00.001+01:00

Here's another anniversary for museums and attractions to consider for events next year - slightly tongue in cheek. It's apparently the 100th anniversary of sand dredging in the Bristol Channel on the 13th June 1912. We know that as Peter Gosson has just published a book on the subject and it's in two volumes and published by Amberley Publishing. So museums along the Bristol Channel Coast with links to maritime history, ships, shipbuilding construction etc could stage an exhibition. Charles Hill & Son, the ship builders located in Bristol Docks until the late 1960s, built many of the dredgers. If nothing else its the opportunity for museum shops to sell a few books.

Bristol Channel Dredger in the Avon Gorge

iVisitorGuide: What the new Google Places means for your Business...

2011-07-28T17:50:00.000+01:00

iVisitorGuide: What the new Google Places means for your Business...: "Google has removed third party review sites from Google Places. Previously, Places pulled reviews from Yelp, TripAdvisor, Urban Spoon and..."

Battle of Naseby Visitor Centre - planning permission granted

2011-07-23T10:41:00.003+01:00

Battle of Naseby Re-enactment at Kelmarsh

Battle of Naseby Visitor Centre

The Naseby Battlefield Project gained outline permission on 20 July 2011, to build a ‘Living History’ Visitor Centre just to the south of the registered battlefield that played a key part in the English Civil War. Daventry District Council Planning Committee rejected the recommendation of the planning officer that it should be turned down on the grounds that the setting of the battlefield would be adversely affected and that greenfield development was contrary to planning policy.

At the Planning Meeting, Lord Naseby, a long time supporter of the project advocated the Battlefield Project’s view that the structure would be concealed from sight from the battlefield itself and that the value of this heritage asset would be enhanced. The question of sustainability had been answered by the submission of a business plan based upon the Feasibility Study completed in 2009 by Attract Marketing Ltd which concluded the centre will be economically viable. Lord Naseby was supported by Cllr Chris Millar, who is both Leader of the District Council and represents a constituency including Naseby on the County Council. The importance of the battle was recognised by all speakers and the contribution to the economic and heritage well-being of the county and the country was cited as a basis for setting aside the view of the planning officer. The application was approved by eleven votes to one.

Work will now start on the detailed planning of the building, its content and the thirty-six acre site pledged to the charity by a small group of supporters. The raising of funds to discharge their loans and transfer control of the land to the Project is an immediate priority.

Dark Tourism

2011-07-17T11:20:00.002+01:00

'Dark tourism is the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions and exhibitions which have real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme.' Stone P.R (2005).

The Dark Tourism Forum was launched in 2005 and has become 'the premier online Academic Research Facility for the subject of dark tourism', it says on its web site. The Dark Tourism Forum is a collaborative project, led by the University of Central Lancashire, between various Partner Institutions and Industry Partners, and is supported by both The Tourism Society and Springboard UK. Part of the following blog note is based on some the site's content

As the Dark Tourism web site says 'Most tourists to battlefields are interested in seeing history made “real”...For some veterans of war, returning to battlefields or battle memorials may provide the opportunity to reach closure on a tragic period of life. The fascination with war in all aspects is seen for example in the long history of visits to battlefields of World War 1 and the beautifully maintained cemeteries of the fallen.

Anyone who has visited a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery such as the one at Souda Bay in Crete cannot fail to be moved by the juxtaposition of the beauty of the location with the tragedy of the loss of life and the sometimes emotional comments in the visitors book. There is an intense feeling of experience at such sites. Lives were lost on the ground the visitor is standing on. Tour operators who plan and lead battlefield tours rarely see a tourist who is seeking a morbid experience. Rather, battlefield tourists are filled with respect for the dead who fought a valiant battle.

More at The Dark Tourism Forum and an illustration of battlefield re-enactment - another example of Dark Tourism here on Youtube - this has had 51,000 plus views since posting - for a simple animation

Attract has undertaken a number of projects related to 'Dark Tourism' centred around battlefields and other military related attractions.

Creating sustainable tourism

2011-07-09T15:08:00.003+01:00

Pembrokeshire’s Bluestone National Park Resort has been named the overall national Example of Excellence in the Rural Action category during Business in the Community’s annual responsible business awards, the 2011 Awards for Excellence.

Following on from their ‘Big Tick’ win at the Welsh awards event in June, Bluestone beat off stiff competition from organisations across the UK including EDF Energy and Milklink to win the accolade.

Bluestone’s award winning initiative is believed to be a world first for the leisure industry. Their landmark leisure attraction, the Blue Lagoon, is heated from biomass energy that comes from crops grown by local farmers. This partnership with Pembrokeshire’s farming community invests in the local economy and reduces the resort’s carbon footprint. This award winning initiative was recognised by judges for having ‘sustainability at its very heart’, and for the courageous approach with which the business supports the region’s rural economy.

William McNamara, founder and managing director of Bluestone, said: “This is a proud day for us. We set out to establish Bluestone as an environmentally sustainable business working with our local community. Just three years after we opened Bluestone, we have achieved national recognition for our work. But we have much more to do and being named as a national ‘Example of Excellence’ will drive us forward to achieve much more.”

See more on the award at the BITC site here

William McNamara is also chair of Attract Marketing client, the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust that with support from the Welsh Government and others including the Milford Haven Port Authority and Chevron has set up the Flying Boat Interpretation Centre and Workshop within the old Royal Dockyard and that now attracts many thousands of visitors since its opening in 2009. The Trust is leading initiatives to create a major visitor attraction and museum which will reflect the remarkable military heritage and the social development of Pembroke Dock over the last 200 years. Plans centre on the beautifully restored Garrison Chapel, dating from 1830, and one of the most significant military buildings in Wales.

Marketing, Event and Exhibition Opportunities in 2012

2011-07-02T10:26:00.030+01:00

2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the bi-centenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, the year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Cultural Olympiad and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and there is whole host of other anniversaries and events. So there are great opportunities for visitor attractions to refresh and develop their visitor offer and develop relevant shows, events and exhibitions around these activities and anniversaries given suitable research and interpretation even on modest budgets.Ideas for Writers has a free download for January 2012 here of anniversaries and will also sell you a book for the whole year!. The only thing to be aware of particularly with the Olympic Games is the question of copyright and use of logos and combinations of words. For those hoping to do something around the Olympic Games attention is drawn to the official Olympic Games website here

To discuss how Attract Marketing can help you in developing, planning and implementing interpretation themes, ideas, events, festivals and exhibitions please contact Nick Booker at Attract Marketing on +44 (0)1926 864900 or drop us an email - see the right hand column

Charles Dickens, Titanic, Queen's Diamond Jubilee - 2012

New award for Attract client

2011-06-30T09:52:00.003+01:00

Canterbury for Culture Award

Attract client, the Canterbury Westgate Towers has won the inaugural Canterbury for Cultural Landscape Award, an award given to a cultural organisation, group or individual making a significant positive impact to Canterbury's environment, architecture or public space.

Interpretation initiatives include turning the Westgate Gaoler's diary into wallpaper which has been put in the gents - Charles Lambie, Westgate Towers' custodian and operator is now worried that visitors will stay seated on the Thomas Crapper toilets for too long reading the news from 1798!
The official opening is the end of July with the next few weeks spent finalizing the opening offer. However from July 1st accompanied tours and familiarization visits through the newly connected 1830 Gaol and café space are on offer.

It's believed that Westgate Towers is the first scheduled ancient monument to reopen under a public /private initiative under the current climate of public spending cuts.

Dunstan, the Westgate Towers' mascot

Museum & Heritage Show May 2011 - Design & Interpretation – That Won’t Cost the Earth

2011-06-23T13:06:00.000+01:00

The Enchanted Palace

Presented by Dr Joanna Marschner, Senior Curator, Historic Royal Palaces

Following the death of Princess Margaret, the Queen bequeathed 30 rooms and 3 gardens to Historic Royal Palaces. This meant lots of the valuable paintings and other objects had to be stored away for safe-keeping during the restoration and building works, and only State Apartments remained open, but largely empty. But restoration meant there was an opportunity to install things like a lift and other modern facilities in the palace which had not been possible before (budget £12m).

Main assets were felt to be the local community, the workforce and the collections. Because of the nature of the ongoing work, a route around the museum would change over the period of the restoration, so they decided to work with that, and look for something that would make this unimportant.

Dr Marschner discovered a company based in Cornwall, Wildworks, who she worked with to create a magical transformation. From their website, here:

“Independent charity Historic Royal Palaces is undertaking a £12 million major project called 'Welcome to Kensington – a palace for everyone' to transform and re-present Kensington Palace by 2012.

While this work is being carried out, the charity has invited us to cast a WILDWORKS spell over the palace, creating a mysterious and atmospheric world for visitors to explore, and bringing the hidden stories of the historic royal residence dramatically to life.

In the sumptuous State Apartments, leading fashion designers Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Boudicca, Aminaka Wilmont and illustrator / set designer Echo Morgan, will each create spectacular installations in collaboration with WILDWORKS artists, taking inspiration from Kensington Palace and the princesses who once lived there - Mary, Anne, Caroline, Charlotte, Victoria, Margaret and Diana.”

They discovered that the room warders were a wonderful resource, mostly desperate (46 out of 50 staff) to talk to visitors. Two or three professional actors worked with the front of house team, along with range of artists and designers on the project. FOH team (no w called Expert Explainers) were involved from the beginning, given voice coaching, acting training and all the palace community were involved in making things, and telling stories. Audio guides are now not used, as staff are highly motivated and involved, and have blossomed as lots of hidden talents emerged.

This approach has broken all targets, with significant audiences of 24-34 yrs, those families with young children, and other groups who never normally visit – ie has reached out to more audiences than before. Have been open in the evening for first time, getting 700 people (this year on 3 Fridays in May, June, July and Peter the Wild Boy’s Ball in August).

Response from visitors has been polarized with 83% saying they really like it, 7% really didn’t like it, and 10% thinking it was ok. From 2012 she said it won’t be exactly the same, but they won’t revert to how it was before – will try to find out more.

The ‘Greeters’ have a policy of telling visitors that it will be different from anything they’ve seen before and give them the opportunity to not pay and come in to be disappointed. If a visitor has come to see a particular work of art eg a painting, they can be informed when it is due to be restored in the palace.

Refreshing the offer - Coming Of Age at the Ace Café

2011-06-06T11:54:00.001+01:00

The Ace Cafe Exhibition - Coventry

A good time was had by Attract at the launch of Coventry Transport Museum's new visiting exhibition - 'the story of the fashion, the bikes and the music that defined a generation' and (that) 'takes you on a journey through the history of the iconic Ace Café, its customers and what it meant to be a British teenager in the 1950s and 60s'.

It was opened by Dudley Sutton one of the stars of the film The Leather Boys and the evening featured live music from The Zodiacs Rock n Roll band, Rock n Roll dancing , the Antelope Motorcycle Club and the owner of the Ace Café Mark Wilsmore. We enjoyed Cafe-style dinner and drinks.

The exhibition is another simple example of how a museum can develop, target and appeal both to the older generation who may remember the Ace Café and tell a story that will appeal to a younger audience and bring in people who might otherwise not have visited the museum . There were certainly all sorts there on a June Thursday evening!

Coming of Age in Coventry

Researching, Developing and Marketing Tourism Products

2011-06-04T18:24:00.000+01:00

Speakers from Attract can offer the following content for conferences workshops, seminars and academic courses - all tailored to fit the audience

1. Tourism - Destination Marketing

Marketing is one of the core functions of a destination manager. The module provides advice on adopting a strategic approach from the outset i.e. defining the product, market planning and targeting, identifying the right media and implementing campaigns.

A strategic approach to Destination Marketing
The product or what to take to market, including branding
Who to target
Routes to market – or how to reach the visitor
Marketing to business tourism organisations
Selecting the media mix
Case study

2. Visitor attractions

This module looks at what constitutes an attraction, examines the general principles of developing an attraction, the focus of different kinds of attraction and in particular looks at attractions in the cultural and heritage tourism sector

Defining Cultural and Heritage tourism
Basic concepts - setting the scene
Feasibility studies and business planning
Audience Development Planning
Interpretation - developing themes and storylines
Access for all - physical and intellectual
Operational issues in visitor attractions
Case study - based on a visit to a local attraction and a workshop

3. Using market research techniques to help make the right decisions

This module looks at gathering and using data on which to make the right strategic decisions and how to use market research to monitor and evaluate performance.

Key elements of a successful research project
Developing the objectives of the research project
Primary and secondary research - differences and when to use
Quantitative and qualitative research – differences and when to use
Other techniques’ e.g. online, desk research, diaries, workshops, csultation
Ad hoc and on-going/continuous research
Evaluation of marketing activity
Planning and developing a brief
Case study

Somewhere worth leaving home for

2011-06-04T11:43:00.003+01:00

Tourism is a key sector of the economy and for private and public sector operators, developers and investors it offers both opportunities and challenges.

New developments require careful market research and considered strategic planning. The viability of new leisure and tourism projects must be rigorously tested and there has to be a detailed appreciation of market conditions and of the planning and development contexts for all development. The constant theme that characterises the sector is the need to attract customers, maximise repeat visits and purchases and maintain or improve competitive positions.

Unfortunately, strategic planning for visitor attractions often has rather disjointed beginnings and issues of “secondary” importance, such as access, buildings, design and detailed planning frequently dominate discussion. However, the fundamental questions to be addressed are: “How will this visitor attraction work as a consumer proposition?” and “How can it be branded for success?”

Creating a visitor attraction that is sufficiently strong, differentiated and marketable is, in the long term, even more important than the key “front-end” questions of funding, investors and capital needs. It is not investors and public funding authorities who sustain a profitable operation but consumers. The return on investment depends ultimately not on buildings, but on individuals, seeking a visitor attraction experience.

A visitor attraction can be defined as “somewhere worth leaving home for”, and this is as relevant to a single museum or cathedral as it is to a tourist area or town. People make visitor attractions – the people who conceive them, the people who develop them, the people who manage them, but above all the people who visit.

In a successful attraction, the product on offer is the experience itself. Committing time to that experience must be rewarding for the individual; spending money on that experience must be worthwhile. In the experience economy, visitor attractions must constantly "reinvent" themselves to encourage repeat visits and survive. This economy of experience is about quality, service and choice – it is not about size. The successful product is about expectations, experiences and memories for individual consumers.

Ultimately, it is people that make visitor attractions successful, not buildings and infrastructure. Visitor attraction developers, owners and managers must always hold the consumer proposition and the visitor attraction brand firmly in mind when undertaking strategic planning.

Networking for Visitor Attractions - Group on LinkedIn

2011-06-04T11:27:00.001+01:00

Visitor attractions have many common themes. problems and opportunities whether they are large or small, museums, theme parks, castles or heritage centres. The Visitor Attractions Group is a group for operators and suppliers of goods and services to share ideas, experiences and advice - joining as a LinkedIn member lets you share in discussions, networking and job opportunities.

Low cost ways of raising profile

2011-05-23T18:06:00.001+01:00

Olwen the Sheep - Arriva's Explore Wales logo

Attract's client, the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust which is developing the Flying Boat Centre based in the Royal Dockyard has got together with Arriva Trains and is being promoted on the company's Explore Wales Pass website. It's a win win for both organisations as Arriva builds its list of visitor attractions that can be visited by train to give the site better critical mass and the Flying Boat Centre builds profile not only on the web site but also on the Explore Wales' sites on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr giving inbound links to the Trust's web site here .
Explore Wales Facebook page
Explore Wales on Flickr

Adam & Joe Henson at Cotswold Farm Park

2011-05-20T17:53:00.003+01:00

Adam & Joe Henson at Cotswold Farm Park, a photo by Attract Marketing on Flickr.

We have just set up a flickr group for Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park and also loaded pictures onto Attract's own flickr site. Yet another simple and cost effective way to provide inbound links and raise profile. All you need is some good photographs and a bit of time. The Cotswold Farm Park was set up by Joe Henson a pioneer of rare breed conservation, on Bemborough Farm, Guiting Power, near Kineton, Gloucestershire in 1971. The CFP is now a leading rare breeds tourist attraction attracting many visitors young and old and is now run by his son Adam Henson of BBC Countryfile fame and his business partner Duncan Andrews.

Developing church trails - some notes and initial ideas

2011-05-17T17:39:00.007+01:00

Church Trails

Background

Britain is home to a wealth of ecclesiastical buildings rich in history and full of beauty and trails can help vistors and tourists to discover and explore some of the exciting and fascinating parish churches in rural areas.

Raising the profile of churches and chapels in rural areas benefits the economy of the villages in which they are located whilst helping those buildings to become more sustainable.

Church Tourism Programmes offer tourists and visitors the opportunity to travel between churches and to learn about and enjoy their history, culture and heritage.

A variety of trails of different length and demand is recommended so that visitors can plan a route suitable for the fit and active, children and the less active.

Cycle trails should be planned to avoid conflict between cyclists and walkers and cycle security points should be provided, in addition to car parking where practical.

Trails particularly accessible (but not exclusive) for those with special needs should be provided and highlighted although access for all wherever possible is a priority

The following represents a few examples of how to approach the development of a church trail but is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

In order to improve engagement and inclusivity interpretation should place the churches, their architecture, artefacts, memorials etc into their historical and cultural context – crossing cultures, crossing time etc.

Rural Church Trail Website

A website can provide information on the trail themes and stories, locations and routs and downloadable resources. Access to resources such as children's trail leaflets, interpretative maps and events programmes can also be made available

Church based circular walks and heritage trails

Walking activities can be developed themed for different audiences including children and families, curious minds based trails, nature trails and churchyard explorers.

Walking and Cycling trails

Short and long routes can link two or more churches using footpaths and cycle routes. Each trail would be designed to be walked either way and include links to public transport, pubs and restaurants and sites of interest.

Volunteer guided tours of participating churches and churchyards

Churches can offer guided tours at set times led by volunteers during weekend, holiday periods or linked to events.

Events

Themed events linking participating churches such as art festivals, family activities, The Big Draw, religious festivals and saints' days.

Architecture and the built environment

Trails linked to architecture and building conservation. Conservation in action and archaeology projects that can be observed or participated in at participating churches.

God's Acre

Activities linked to exploring churchyards including nature trails, ecological surveys, famous monuments or grave stone inscription trails linked to local and national history and culture

Listening posts

Listening posts at strategic locations providing real authentic voices of local people telling their stories about the social and cultural importance of the church.

Rubbing plaques

Rubbing plaques at each church and a recording booklet. Collect a rubbing from each church to complete a full set.

Concluding comments

There are many other possible developments within a trail project that can provide activity and interest for the visitor which could include geo-caching, storytelling sessions, coach tours and photographic and art competitions. Particularly, special photo and painting viewpoints may be featured throughout the project.

Other aspects and activities that should be taken into account include:

Social networking for promoting trails and sites eg Flickr, Facebook etc
Smart Phone technology – e.g. mobile downloads/apps
GPS walking technology
Maps
View points/Points of interest /Photo opportunities
Picnic spots
Waymarkers
Timed trails

The aim should be to provide an exciting experience which enhances and enriches the visitor experience.

For more information on developing church trails and indeed trails for other buildings with themes please send an email to info@attractmarketing.co.uk with 'Trails' in the subject line

Predicting visitor numbers

2011-04-29T14:58:00.003+01:00

The nightmare for developers and promoters is a new theme park with the rides operating, the music playing but no visitors anywhere in sight; a new museum with the doors wide open but the galleries and halls empty of visitors. Imagine a newly opened restaurant, the staff all bright-eyed and eager but not one customer at the tables. Chilling visions for anyone who develops a visitor attraction or leisure venue in the belief that people will flock through the doors in numbers great enough to ensure success.

There are probably few if any cases where absolutely no one came to a new attraction, but one can think of any number where not enough people turned up and the attractions slowly faded away.An article written in 1999 by Rob Hall of Envirometrics in Australia addressed the issue of forecasting visitor numbers and it contained thought provoking comments and some useful principles for considering this knotty and difficult subject, even though written 12 years ago. It can be found here.

Carefully conducted surveys of the market, rigorous profiling of the resident population within various drive times of the attraction, combined with focus groups can give very useful indications of future market response. History has shown however that unless the sources of information are interpreted with skill, there is a high risk of expecting more visitors at the door than will actually arrive. It sometimes needs a strong minded consultant with a well argued case, to convince the client that he (or she) if not 'barking' then is at least being over optimistic!

Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

2011-04-15T13:48:00.002+01:00

Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, a group on Flickr.

Photographs celebrating the heritage and achievements of Attract clients - Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

Innovative approaches to museum sustainability

2011-03-17T12:09:00.000Z

In the present climate innovative approaches to maintaining and developing Britain's heritage are needed. Westgate Towers is often deemed the most iconic landmark in Canterbury after the cathedral. Standing at the entrance of the city it has welcomed pilgrims, travellers and tourists alike for centuries .

Westgate Towers from old postcard

The towers, transformed into a museum over a century ago, were in danger of closing, but thanks to Charles Lambie they now have an assured and sustainable future. Mr Lambie is investing almost £1 million to convert them and the city's former Victorian gaol next door into a state-of-the-art museum and attraction including creating a glass-box café in the gaol's old exercise yard and later a unique hotel in adjoining buildings. Opening is scheduled for later in 2011. Attract Marketing provided advice on the museum and visitor aspects of the project at an early stage and continues to do so.
More details on Westgate Towers here

Snobby Tours Travelblog: Top Issues and the Latest Trends in 2011 in the Tourism Industry

2011-02-25T10:46:00.000Z

Snobby Tours Travelblog: Top Issues and the Latest Trends in 2011 in the Tourism Industry

An Attract client's connection with King George VI and Colin Firth

2011-01-08T13:59:00.000Z

The Clochfaen

The story of stammering British ruler George VI ruled at the Academy Awards this year , with "The King's Speech" winning Best Picture and taking Oscars for Best Actor Colin Firth, Best Director Tom Hooper and Best Original Screenplay for David Seidler.

The film tells the story of King George VI, played by Colin Firth, his efforts to overcome his speech impediment with the aid of therapist Lionel Logue and his ascension to the throne following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII.

As the young Prince Albert, Duke of York or Bertie as he was known. served at the Battle of Jutland sometimes called “the greatest sea battle of all times” Yet illness dogged Prince Albert throughout the War, and in 1917 he spent three weeks convalescing at the Clochfaen, an Arts & Crafts country house then the centre of an estate of some 5,000 acres, in the upper Wye Valley on the edge of the village of Llangurig, near Llanidloes, Powys. See the full story at the BBC Wales site
The Clochfaen now set in some 20 acres, but with sporting rights over much of the original estate is owned by Kevin Hughes and James Stirk and the main house - Clochfaen - provides self catering accommodation for parties of up 18 people with access to to fly fishing and rough shooting in season. In addition there is a bed and breakfast business and two self catering cottages.

In late 2009 Attract worked with the owners of the Clochfaen on a marketing and business development plan for the houses and cottages focussing on generating more bookings through a variety of marketing interventions and channels.

For more information on the Clochfaen and how to stay there click here and for full details of The King's Speech and Colin Firth click here

Colin Firth in The King's Speech (copyright acknowledged to the copyright holder)

Defence of the Realm - Pembrokeshire - Cadw

2010-08-17T15:41:00.001+01:00

The theme of the Cadw pan Wales Defence of the Realm project is the story of the part Wales has played in defending Britain from war and invasion from the late 18th century French Revolutionary Wars to the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. Cadw decided to commence by developing a Defence of the Realm interpretation plan for Pembrokeshire. Attract was commissioned to write the Plan and it is now available on the Cadw website. Defence of the Realm Interpretation Plan

The project aims to maximise the economic value of heritage and make the Welsh historic environment more intellectually accessible, more enjoyable to visit for both tourists and local residents and create a lasting sense of what makes Wales special. Although much of recent history in Pembrokeshire has centred around the Haven, this has not been exclusively so, and the project has therefore considered the County as a whole. Implementation should ensure that this balance is maintained.

Cadw is a Welsh word which means 'to keep'. Cadw is the Welsh Assembly Government's historic environment division. Cadw aims to:

protect and sustain
encourage community engagement in
improve access to the historic environment of Wales. This includes historic buildings, ancient monuments, historic parks, gardens and landscapes, and underwater archaeology.

Trustee appointments to Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust

2010-08-04T19:31:00.000+01:00

The Chief Executive of the Milford Haven Port Authority, Alec Don, has accepted an invitation to become a Trustee of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust.

He joins another recently appointed Trustee, Mr Phil Thompson, on the board, strengthening the Trust which is leading unique and high profile heritage initiatives in Pembrokeshire.

Mr Don joined the Port Authority in February while Mr Thompson, now a director with CIOTEK PR and Events, retired earlier this year as Public Affairs Manager at Chevron’s Pembroke Refinery.

Welcoming the new Trustees, Trust Chairman William McNamara said: “As a Trust we have made considerable progress in a short time but we are very much aware that we needed to recruit active Trustees who are prepared to work hard to help progress our exciting plans which have caught the imagination of so many people.

“The Port Authority has been a key supporter of the Trust from the beginning and Phil Thompson has worked closely with us all this time as well so we are delighted that they have agreed to join us.”

Already the Trust has established a unique visitor attraction in the Flying Boat Centre in the former Pembroke Dockyard and which has attracted over 7,000 visitors. It is also working towards recovering the remains of a wartime Sunderland flying boat which sank locally 70 years ago, and moving ahead with plans with partner organisations for a military heritage centre at the beautifully restored Garrison Chapel, one of Pembroke Dock’s most famous and historic buildings.

“The military heritage of this area is remarkable and of national and international importance and our new Trustees will help us to take our plans forward,” added Mr McNamara.

Alec Don said: "I am delighted to become more involved with this fantastic project. The Sunderland Trust is to a substantial extent intrinsically about the history of the port of Milford Haven and Pembroke Port. The large Sunderland hangars at Pembroke Dock continue to have a vibrant economic life as part of the port and I hope eventually we will see Sunderland T9044 raised and installed at the centre of a new national visitor attraction for Pembrokeshire.

“I very much look forward to working closely with William and my fellow Trustees to make this hope a reality."

Caption to picture:

New Sunderland Trustees Alec Don (left) and Phil Thompson.
PICTURE: Martin Cavaney Photography.

Attract Marketing is working with the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust to develop the visitor attraction.

Recent projects by Attract Marketing

2010-07-01T21:29:00.000+01:00

Feasibility Study and Business Plan for the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust
Development Plan and Business Plan for the Charles Dickens House Museum Broadstairs for Thanet District Council

Feasibility Study and marketing/business plan for New College Nottingham (Adams Enterprises) for developing weekend breaks with leisure, arts and crafts themes and thus creating new revenue streams. Now trading as artspaceworkshops offering contemporary creative workshops 'in a relaxed social setting'

Competitor analysis and market research on the events and weddings market for the owner of 19th century mansion in Derbyshire

Looking forward to 2010 with old and new clients

2010-01-09T15:01:00.002Z

"How do visitors find out about you?"

2009-11-19T18:48:00.000Z

Things are changing for promoting visitor attractions and tourism businesses. Is it advertising, recommendation, word of mouth, leaflets, social networking, signs, Twitter, TV, radio etc? To find out more join the professionals networking site LinkedIn and see the discussion in the Visitor Attractions Group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1945560&trk=anet_ug_hm

Nick Booker's profile | World Reviewer

2009-11-19T11:44:00.000Z

Nick Booker's profile World Reviewer

Interesting story - I stumbled across Landed Houses www.landedhouses.co.uk while doing some marketing development work for the owners of an Arts and Crafts country house www.theclochfaen.com/ in Mid Wales that is available to let. If Landed Houses can focus on their core product and not diversify into smaller houses, winter holidays etc then they should be on to a winner. Good site - easy to navigate and I like the owner's blog - to the point - warts and all of his tour around the houses on the site - and making the observation that in these large and old houses you will not always get ensuite for every room - that's part of the charm of the country house experience!

Heritage Attractions Group

2009-09-30T19:19:00.000+01:00

See the new sub group - Heritage Attractions - of the LinkedIn Visitor Attractions group at: www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=1945560

The Heritage Attractions sub group is for all those involved in running and managing or servicing heritage attractions including museums, castles, historic houses, literary and other heritage themed attractions, preserved railways, industrial archaeological sites etc

Disaster communications in a social networking media world

2009-09-01T10:46:00.000+01:00

Disaster Communications in a Changing World
Credits: George D Haddow and Kim S Haddow
Publisher's name, year of publication: Elsevier, 2009-07-11 ISBN: 978-1-85617-554--8
Number of pages:218

The front cover of this book features a picture that perhaps sums up how far we have come in communicating and managing news of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and accidents and terrorist incidents. It's a screen shot of the Twitter web site. The advent of the internet, blogging, social networking, YouTube etc means "first informers" or witnesses have the ability to leapfrog traditional news channels and those who want to manage news. As the authors say, governments' role as gatekeepers of news is now an anachronism. This book looks at the key elements of disaster communications and how to manage news and information in the context of new media.

Much of the material covers the planning that organisations should have in place anyway - like a Crisis PR plan and providing front line staff with media training. However, it looks in detail at integrating new media and imbedding it into planning and implementation before disaster strikes. It is not just a dry analysis but very much a book to be picked up and used as a reference with lots of practical suggestions such as dealing with interviews and uses case studies to illustrate dos and don'ts. There are descriptions of other resources to consult such as web sites and a short bibliography of other books to read but given its subject most of the references are to other web sites

If the book has a fault, it is its North American bias. However that is a small criticism in the context of the insight that the authors, both experts with practical experience, provide for dealing with communications management whether TV or text messaging. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone likely to have to handle communications in a crisis either in the public or private sectors

Review The Tourism Society Magazine Autumn 2009 by Nick Booker

http://www.tourismsociety.org/

Feasibility Studies for New Visitor Attractions

2009-08-12T11:28:00.000+01:00

See a short Power Point on the key elements required in a feasibility study for new visitor attractions projects with two case studies at http://tinyurl.com/l56ocp

Naseby Battlefield Project

2009-07-19T18:02:00.001+01:00

Attract has just been appointed project manager for the Naseby Battlefield Project that is planning a visitor centre and museum alongside the battlefield in Northamptonshire
http://www.naseby.com/

Director Development and Mentoring

2009-06-24T15:43:00.000+01:00

The Director Development Programme (DDP) provides leadership and management advice and subsidised training to the principal decision maker or key decision makers/directors of companies with between 5 and 249 employees in the West Midlands.
Would you or your team gain from receiving mentoring, coaching and support in:
Leadership: Key Development Areas:
· Strategic
· Analytical
· Inspirational
· Personal
Management: Key Development Areas
· Products and Services
· Developing Markets
· People Development
· Finance
· Sales and Marketing
· Operations
Grant Funding from Business Link of up to £1,000 is available:
First £500 grant is not required to be matched by the client and is available to the key director (principal decision maker).

Additional £500 grant is available but must be cash matched. It can be utilised by the key director or additional key decision makers identified by the Key Director.
Training can be delivered on a one-to-one or group basis. In terms of groups, this can be to management teams from the same company or to a network of leaders and managers from the different companies. The same grant funding regime applies. For example, a management team from the same business (which includes the principal decision maker) can receive a £1,000 grant towards training costs of £1,500.

Equally, for a network of leaders/managers from different companies, those that are principal decision-makers in their business can receive grant funding of up to £500 (fully-funded) and other key decision, up to £500 with the same level of cash match funding.

Interested? Then call Nick Booker on 01926 864900 or email info@attractmarketing.co.uk with DDP in the title

Recent projects and visits

2009-06-20T11:07:00.000+01:00

Most of our projects are very visual so we take photographs. For some recent and current projects and also some visits to places we have some views and comments on see http://www.flickr.com/photos/attract_marketing_tourism_and_attraction_consultancy/

Using blogs for marketing and site optimisation

2009-06-17T10:59:00.000+01:00

Last year Nick Booker of Attract Marketing provided marketing advice and support for three privately owned historic houses including The West Wing Abbey Manor at Evesham, Worcestershire. The West Wing does stylish country house bed and breakfast and as part of the effort to increase bookings built a blog that is effectively an additional web site at http://westwingabbeymanor.blogspot.com/. Nick has been tweaking the content over the last few months and the site also has in bound links from Flickr and Youtube - it's featured on both sites - as well as other relevant sites . Put 'bed breakfast Evesham' into Google now and its on the first page. In fact it beats West Wing's own site at http://www.abbey-manor.co.uk that's handled by another organisation.

It goes to show that low cost routes to market work - the next step is to get the owners of West Wing to use Twitter and start Twittering.

LinkedIn Group for Visitor Attractions

2009-05-13T09:58:00.000+01:00

A new LinkedIn networking group for all those involved in working in or for all kinds of visitor attractions has been opened on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1945560

Tips, tricks and hints on fundraising

2009-05-09T14:21:00.000+01:00

For professional tips and tricks of fundraising for festivals, tourism and heritage projects and museums see the presentation from Nick Booker of Attract Marketing Ltd and Bridget Rennie, Development Manager of City of London Festival showcased at the highly successful Tourism Management Institute Hot Topic Event 2009 Conference in Birmingham in May 2009. See it on the articles section of http://www.attractmarketing.co.uk

using Google Adwords to attract more visitors

2009-01-27T20:15:00.000Z

If you are contemplating using Google Adwords have a look at http://www.ultramarketing.co.uk/using-google-adwords-effectively-advice-from-experts-on-linkedin/ before you do so. At the Ultra Marketing web site there are comments gathered from the many experts on LinkedIn on how and how not to use Google Adwords effectively. The moral is - make sure your web site is fully optimised and WG3 compliant before you do so. It's easy to rack up spend on Adwords without any gathering any effective contribution to the bottom line. But have a read - there's some good stuff there.

Tourism Workshops and Seminars

2009-01-22T14:47:00.001Z

Attract Marketing offer a range of workshops and seminars tailored to the potential audience and based around the subject of the Development and Marketing of Heritage Tourism Products

The range of workshops/seminars include the following topics:
What is Heritage Tourism?Topic 1: Basic Concepts - Setting the Scene
Topic 2: Audience Development – what is it and who will come?
Topic 3: Interpretation - developing themes and story lines
Topic 4: Access for all - physical and intellectual
Best Practice in Heritage TourismTopic 5: Collections & Conservation Management Plans
Topic 6: Heritage Learning
Topic 7: Feasibility Studies - key elements
Topic 8: Applying the theory - Case Studies
Visitor IssuesTopic 1: Creating an Audience Development Plan
Topic 2: Operating the Heritage Attraction
Topic 3: Creating a Learning and Access Plan
Topic 4: The Marketing Campaign Plan
Case Study based on a visit to a local attraction - Making it betterTopic 5: Analysing the problem - Writing the brief
Topic 6: Developing a new offer
Topic 7: Making it work
Topic 8: Launching the revamped attraction

The clients for this series include a European Union funded workshop for the Estonian Tourist Board where we worked with a local consultant Oliver Loode of Consumetric.
Download the introductory presentation from http://www.attractmarketing.co.uk/Heritage_Tourism_Basic_Concepts_Topic1.pdf for more information.

Research and Interpretation

2009-01-20T20:04:00.000Z

Attract gets very involved in research from time to time as part of developing Interpretation Plans, identifying the significance of museum collections etc. While not part of an Attract project the blog at http://jamescholmeleyrussell.blogspot.com/ illustrates what can be achieved with persistence and some luck to provide a human face to some potentially rather dry facts.

What makes a good tourism leaflet?

2009-01-16T17:46:00.000Z

The full details on how to make a good leaflet for your tourist attraction or destination is now posted on the Attract marketing web site at: http://www.attractmarketing.co.uk/articles/What_makes_a_good_tourism_attraction_leaflet.pdf