Talks begin on city’s visitor economy strategy

Work is under way on a new strategy for the visitor economy of Milton Keynes.

The city’s destination management organisation

Destination Milton Keynes has opted to plough its own furrow, having previously considered alliances with fellow tourism organisations

Visit Bedfordshire, Northants Surprise and Visit Buckinghamshire.

The decision comes in the wake of the government’s and national tourism body Visit England’s decision to reduce the number of Destination Management Organisations in the UK from 180 to 40.

Destination Milton Keynes has chosen to apply for Local Visitor Economy Partnership status, still under the auspices of Visit England but in charge of its own local tourism and visitor economy.

“We believe that we need a coherent visitor economy strategy for the next five to ten years that will crystallise where we need to go and what the city will be like in ten years time,” said Destination Milton Keynes chief executive Ian Stuart.

DMK has completed the appointment of a new tourism strategy head, which has already begun work on the plan.

The draft strategy is expected to be completed by the end of March next year and will be presented to the city, including its business community, for feedback.

Mr Stuart (inset) said: “It is important to recognise that Milton Keynes is at a moment as a city.

“We have city status and from a visitor economy point of view we need to make some decisions about what we do, where we go and how the city is perceived both outside and by its residents.”

Speaking to an audience of businesspeople at the City Breakfast Club networking group, Mr Stuart said that Milton Keynes is now an economic powerhouse, with a GVA higher than Oxford and Cambridge combined and a

GVA per capital higher than any other location outside of London.

He added: “One of the issues we have as a city is that we do not realise just how important a place we are.”

Mr Stuart took over as chief executive in 2019, during which time DMK has launched a new website and social media plan that has seen website visitors rise from 10,000 per month in the first year to a current 28,000 per month.

Its social media activity has been transformed, with impressions of 679,000 two years ago increasing to 2.1 million in 2023. “We are becoming a force to be reckoned with,” Mr Stuart said.

“We have a fantastic city yet we do not have a visitor economy strategy, a plan

We hope the strategy will point towards investment, collaboration and engagement.