Plans to develop the visitor economy offer in Peterborough will be debated at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, 1 October.
Members will be updated on the development of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) since it was accredited in May, the emerging regional visitor economy brand and the continued development of the Peterborough Tourist Board as the city's Destination Management Organisation (DMO) with a destination management plan.
They will then be asked to approve the following recommendations:
- Establishing the Peterborough Tourist Board as a legal entity and DMO.
- Support the Visit Cambridgeshire brand - which has a ‘Wonder Further’ marketing message - to boost visitor economy growth, alongside working with the Peterborough Tourist Board and using the local Discover Peterborough branding and website.
- Continued partnership working within the LVEP to promote more tourism in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The 'Wonder Further' messaging would act as the umbrella brand for the wider visitor economy area. It would not replace local destination identities but would provide a regional platform through which individual places can be promoted. Peterborough would continue to use Discover Peterborough as its local visitor-facing brand, in the same way that Cambridge benefits from Visit Cambridgeshire and other towns promote their distinctive local heritage, culture and attractions through their own visitor information and place-making activity.
In 2022 the visitor economy directly accounted for 19,410 jobs in Peterborough, 16.4% of the total workforce.
Peterborough currently achieves around 26 per cent of the 26million domestic tourist trips annually to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (6.4million), ahead of even Cambridge. However, our city benefits from fewer overnight trips from Cambridge and less money spent by tourists. If this can be changed, it would mean millions of extra pounds flooding into our local economy.
Councillor Kevin Tighe, Cabinet Advisor to the Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration, said: "Our city's visitor economy is important because it converts the city's heritage, culture, events, hospitality and retail offer into economic value, local jobs and civic pride.
"Done well, it means increased footfall in our city centre and spend in local businesses, including hotels, restaurants, shops, cultural venues, transport providers, supply chains and independent traders.
"As well as extra cash in the pockets of the above, it will also result in cleaner safer and more animated public spaces, a stronger events programme, increased wayfinding and better promotion of our local heritage, increasing the pride we all feel in our city.
"We need to firmly stamp in visitor's minds – and our own - that our city is a destination in its own right and we are already well underway in doing that thanks to the fantastic work of the Peterborough Tourist Board.
"These future plans will solidify this and move our success a stage further by linking up formally with Cambridgeshire and working in partnership rather than isolation. By doing this we can capture more value from visitors to Cambridge and the wider region.”