TOURISM - JAN 2008 ARCHIVE

Date for your Diary - March 29th 2008

The date for Kent's next 'Big Day Out' has been set for Saturday 29th March 2008. Premised on the fact that 25% of residential tourists are visiting friends and family, Kent's tourism bosses have always been clear that it is important that residents therefore know about where they live and what there is to do. This is not only across tourism venues, but sports, leisure, cultural and arts venues and indeed events. Hence the concept of Big Day Out, which aims to use this statistic whilst capitalising on the nine year tourism window opened for Kent by London staging the Games, a nine year window that the Kent Campaign forecasts will generate an additional £324 million for the tourism sector alone.

This event is conceived and delivered by Kent Tourism, who form the Kent Campaign's tourism sectoral task group.

In 2007, over 10, 000 tickets were made available free of charge to the public by venues that took part, and for members of the public and venues alike, the day was an absolute success.

Feedback from Attractions included

"An excellent start to the season. Much enjoyed by the public and volunteers"
"we had wonderful take up on the Big Day Out - many thanks and we look forward to participating in it again next year"
"we certainly were busier than on equivalent day last year"
"from our point of view everything worked well…Very worthwhile"
"There seemed to be lots of publicity"

Whilst feedback from Participants included
"Thank you so much for our BIG DAY OUT, you even managed to supply us with a sunny day"
"here's to another Big Day Out next year to explore another fantastic Kent attraction"
"Thank you very much for the opportunity to explore what was on our doorstep all the time...I hope everyone else enjoyed the day as much as we did, please do it again as when we were looking for tickets we noticed lots of places that we did not know about and I am a born and bred Kent lass!"

More details will follow, but please register your interest with Vanessa Bransden of Kent Tourism on 01622 696936.

 

Londoners encourage to relax, refresh and be inspired in Kent

Using the impetus of the forthcoming London 2012 Games, Kent Tourism, who chair the Kent Campaign's tourism sectoral task group, have launched a London Campaign.

The first outdoor campaign in the capital for four years, it consists of 4000 in-carriage tube cards, 48 sheet cross-track posters at central London stations Victoria, Charing Cross and Waterloo, tube posters at 15 tube stations including Oxford Circus, Bond Street and Knightsbridge, as well as London bus side-panel advertising. The London Campaign will run throughout the summer (the Underground element for 4 weeks only), and is being partnered through Southeastern Railway and Shepherds Neame. It has been featured as a banner for four weeks on the National Rail Enquiries website.

It is hoped that the campaign can be repeated every year leading up to the Games, really raising Londoners', and London visitors', awareness of Kent as a premiere leisure destination. This will then contribute to the county's Olympic related tourism priorities, as identified in our Kent Strategy for the 2012 Games (pdf)

32,000 leaflets, and promotion of the campaign on Southeastern trains and Shepherd Neame Pubs in London will promote our message even further. More details are available on www.visitkent.co.uk