Shadow Tourism Minister, Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East will launch the Destination Champions Award 2009 at the Best of Britain and Ireland Show at Excel on the 26th March 2009 at 10am (stand number 896). The award honours individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to building the tourism industry in their local area. Michael Hancock the CEO of Destination Alliances, who sponsors the award stated “We are looking for someone with a true community spirit whose activities have helped others, improved their surroundings and raised the profile of their local area. Mr Ellwood was the perfect choice to launch the award because of the personal commitment he has shown in helping Bournemouth grow as a tourist destination”
The winner will demonstrate that they have gone beyond the call of duty to promote their local area as a tourist destination, for instance running local events or being actively involved in community organisations. Nominations are to be made online at www.destinationchampions.co.uk, with a closing date of 30th September 2009. The winner will be announced in October and receive a trophy and a 3 night break in Boscombe Spa Resort Bournemouth. The person who nominates the winner will receive a weekend break in Boscombe Spa Resort.
Destination Alliances facilitates cooperation and joint marketing between tourism businesses (hotels, restaurants and leisure activities), helping them to work together to promote their local area. It is the brainchild of Michael Hancock who, having worked with hotels and restaurants on their websites and online booking systems, came to realise that businesses in smaller holiday destinations found it hard to find the money to promote their services effectively. He saw the opportunity for them to join forces to promote the local area benefiting all those involved. So in early 2007 he helped launch the first Alliance, Boscombe Spa Resort, with four local hoteliers.
Boscombe Spa, Bournemouth has recently under gone a major re-development of the sea front and the first artificial European Surf Reef will open there this summer. Destination Alliances is assisting a dedicated band of 68 local tourism businesses to work together to promote their resort by building their own website, introducing a loyalty card to encourage holiday makers to try all the local amenities and introducing a centralised hotel booking service. The initiative received national recognition winning the Best Marketing on a Small Budget Award at the UK Hotel Marketing Awards last year and the Hoteliers of Boscombe Spa Resort reported an average £6,500 increase in revenue last year.
Destination Alliances plan to franchise other Alliances across the Country concentrating on smaller towns that have recently undergone regeneration and do not have access to a local Tourist Association or Information Centre.
For more tips goto www.hotelmarketingcentre.com
Monday, 6 April 2009
Tourism Awards UK
Destination Alliances has just launched Tourism Awards for people who have done a great deal to improve their local community and help tourism - the site is open to nominations.
For more tips goto www.hotelmarketingcentre.com
For more tips goto www.hotelmarketingcentre.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
