Our Action Priorities

Our Action Priority 1

Raising Awareness

Promoting our offer to our target markets is a key priority for our stakeholders. Our local DMOs will be responsible for destination level and placebased marketing to UK consumers. Similarly, our attractions, local authorities, BIDs and other consortia are best placed to market to day visitors and residents.

At a wider level, we will develop a small number of targeted projects which will promote key product themes; target markets beyond the resources of individual DMOs and encourage visitors to experience multiple areas of Norfolk and Suffolk.

We will reinforce and widen the adoption of our successful Naturally brand across all channels and markets to promote sustainable and regenerative tourism, low impact activities, relaxation, wellness and personal enrichment, promoting these throughout the seasons.

We will ensure an integrated customer journey, keeping our digital assets under review.

The success of these awareness raising actions will be monitored in an annual perceptions study to ensure that Norfolk and Suffolk are a top-of-mind destination and perform well in comparison with our competitors.

Our Action Priority 2

Developing our Rich and Natural Product

The places our visitors enjoy (products) and the activities they undertake (experiences) are at the heart of our visitor economy. Developing products and experiences has a key role to play in reducing seasonality and creating better careers. Our natural spectaculars and some major events already take place outside of the summer season and we will explore further events and activities and consider the opportunities for a major indoor events venue. Our cultural offer can also play a significant role in extending the season. We will work with cultural partners to identify the opportunities for enhancing or creating new cultural content (exhibitions, festivals, etc) with a focus on the shoulder seasons.

Our natural environment can also be developed further. Signature projects will build on the opportunities to enjoy active travel and maximise the assets of our extensive waterways while The Brecks initiative, which covers both Suffolk and Norfolk, provides an opportunity to work collaboratively across the two counties to develop an exemplar regenerative tourism National Character Area. Our cultural offer will be enhanced by the St Olav Ways signature project, creating a new Cultural Pilgrimage Route of the Council of Europe that takes visitors from Great Yarmouth to King’s Lynn via Bury St Edmunds.

Our Action Priority 3

Supporting Resilient and Engaged Businesses

Ensuring that there is a cohort of profitable, resilient and engaged businesses will be a key priority moving forward. Activities at destination level can include developing content for marketing campaigns and providing a forum and channel to update businesses on news and new initiatives. We will work with our network of local DMOs to engage the sector raising awareness of trends in the marketplace and important national initiatives. We will prioritise a Welcome for All through our access and inclusion activities.

We will continue to deliver our successful VENI project, led by the five FE colleges, with its innovative Skills Academy Apprenticeship, and explore opportunities for our businesses to deepen links with local education providers through the Local Skills Improvement Plan. The VENI Partnership will also deliver our World Host Training signature project to enhance customer service.

Our businesses require timely and relevant data in order to inform decisions. We currently monitor annual volume and value consistently across the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk. As well as looking at our own situation, we will approach and work with VisitEngland and the new LVEP structure on a new national structure of market intelligence gathering.

Our Action Priority 4

Effective Destination Management

We will transform our engagement structure, with a clear hierarchy and demarcation of responsibilities. This will ensure that businesses know who does what. As a consequence, consumer facing roles will also be clearer. Whilst we are confident that the new structure will bring significant benefits, we will keep the situation under review on an annual basis. We will work with local partners to establish a clear split of responsibilities, setting out a proactive approach to engaging with the local media and decision makers to maximise benefits for our sector. We will also ensure that the environmental interests of our area are represented in our networks and governance structures.

Foundation activities within this priority include the important work of our DMOs supporting their members (meetings, e-communications, etc), communication on local developments and statutory obligations from the local authorities. Partnership is a key principle of this plan. Destination management arrangements will evolve as the new delivery arrangements develop and the designation of Visit East of England as a VisitEngland LVEP matures. One example is a new destination content management system in development with Destination Core that will link five new websites – VEE, Visit Norfolk, Visit Suffolk, VEE business and VEE travel trade – and facilitate work across various strands.