Visitor Elves

Send us a textIn this episode, I'm back in Gloucester exploring the fascinating world of urban regeneration and historic building redevelopment with Sarah Mansfield Co-owner of L&R Group and visionary behind Gloucester Food Dock. Sarah shares her journey from running luxury trains to transforming heritage spaces, focusing on her latest project, Gloucester Food Dock. We chatted about:Sarah's background in leisure, tourism and urban redevelopment including the development of Milsom Place in BathThe Gloucester Food Dock project and transforming the Victorian dock offices into a food destination for independent businesses.  L&R Group's innovative approach to tenant relationships and rent models where the risk is sharedComparisons between Gloucester and other West of England destinations  Sarah’s previous Involvement in setting up Bath BID and Bath in Fashion and insights into repositioning BathPractical tips for driving success in urban regeneration projects Go to the summary, links and businesses mentioned. Related Episodes:Episode 16 - Building and Nurturing Place Culture with Philip Walker, Gloucester City Council.  To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textAre you looking to grow your corporate bookings in 2025? Business events like meetings, conferences, and team-building activities are key revenue sources, especially during off-peak times in the visitor economy.In this episode, Kelly chats with Helen Applin, Head of Business Events at Visit West, about the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) market opportunities in the Bristol, Bath, and North Somerset area.  Many businesses miss out on opportunities simply because they’re unaware of the resources the convention bureau, Meet Bristol and Bath, provides. According to the latest UK EVENTS report, corporate events contribute an impressive £33.6 billion annually to the UK economy, making this sector a vital asset.Listen to this episode to discover how you can maximise this market and how Visit West can help you. Episode Summary, links and Helen's LinkedIn details. Useful links:- Gold Membership at Visit West- Meet Bristol and BathTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn this episode of I chatted with Damien Martin, General Manager of award-winning The Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff.  Just a year after opening its doors in 2021, The Parkgate Hotel scooped the prestigious AA Hotel of the Year for Wales title. Damien gives us an inside look at the hotel’s success and shares what it takes to run a standout hospitality business.  One of the hotel's big highlights is its restaurant, The Sorting Room, which has earned two AA Rosettes for its exceptional cuisine. Damien talks about how keeping things simple and consistent in everything has helped them create a dining experience that guests love.Cardiff is a city on the rise, and Damien explains how it compares to nearby places like Bristol. With major events, like international rugby matches and concerts at the nearby Principality Stadium, The Parkgate Hotel is ideally located to take advantage of the buzz and excitement.Damien also speaks about the power of collaboration. Being part of the larger Celtic Collection hospitality group means the Parkgate Hotel can access valuable support while staying committed to the local community. Damien is especially proud of their involvement in initiatives like Business in the Community, allowing them to give back to Cardiff meaningfully.When it comes to recruitment, The Parkgate Hotel and the Celtic Collection work closely with local colleges and universities to bring in fresh talent and focus on building a positive culture that encourages growth. Every year, 30-40 chefs come to train from the University of Birmingham.  Finally, Damien shares his top five tips on how to build an award-winning hotel. His philosophy is one of constant improvement. His mindset? Never rest on your laurels—always aim to be better than the day before.Find links on the businesses we mention, a summary and a transcript here.  To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textWelcome to today’s episode! I’m super excited to chat with Charlotte Laing, the amazing founder of The Content Emporium. Her agency is thriving, with a team of 46 talented people, and they’re doing fantastic work for clients, including 20 shopping centres across the UK.Who’s This Episode For?If you’re creating content for businesses, especially in the visitor economy (think shopping centres, town or city centres), this one’s for you.  Charlotte’s sharing some great tips and insights to help you up your content game.What You’ll Learn🤿 The Why Behind Content: We’re diving into why it’s more important than ever to invest in content creation and how businesses can make it work for them.🔮 Looking Ahead to 2025: Charlotte shares her thoughts on the big content trends coming up and what you should be preparing for.💡Tips You Can Use Right Now: Need a boost for your content strategy? Charlotte’s got some super practical advice to help you nail it for 2025. Grab your notebook, get comfy, and let’s get into it! For a summary, full transcription, and links mentioned in the episode, head to Visitor Elves.To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textWelcome to Series 4 of The Visitor Elves Podcast!We’re back, and I couldn’t be more excited to kick off Series 4 of the Visitor Elves podcast.  Whether you’re a long-time listener (you’re a total rockstar!) or it’s your first time tuning in, I’m thrilled to have you here. We’re two years in, with 46 episodes and over 4,200 downloads—so what’s next? This series is packed with insightful guests, actionable tips, and real stories from those on the frontlines of tourism, hospitality, and experiences. Expect new episodes around every two weeks, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already! Starting Strong with a Visit West CollaborationI’m thrilled to launch this season with a special collaboration episode featuring Visit West—the Destination Management Organisation for Bristol, Bath, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. If you’re short on time or can’t attend industry events, this episode is perfect for catching up on what’s happening. In today’s episode, we’ve got speakers from the Food and Drink Forum that took place on 18th September, sharing ideas and opportunities that can benefit businesses across the board. Heloise Balme from Bristol Food Network, introducing their sustainability guide for hospitality as part of the Bristol Good Food 2030 programme.Louisa Jackley-Davis from Virgin Experience Days, showing how you can promote your business.Jon Chamberlain from Visit West, discussing group dining opportunities with the travel trade.Natalie Clayton from AA Media, presenting the new and free Visitor Ready assessment scheme.Dan Newman Managing Director of Hospitality Rewards, the first benefits platform for UK hospitality workers. Find out more, check out the transcript and speaker links here. Stay tuned, and as always—enjoy the episode!To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn my final episode of Series 3, I have a special guest, the wonderful and oh-so-stylish Lorraine Jarvie, General Manager of the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath.  This hotel has a five-star (red) rating and is one of the top 2% in the country.  With 40 bedrooms and 140 staff (180 during busy periods), the Royal Crescent is not only one of the West's most impressive hotels, it is also one of the ultimate jobs in the UK for a hotel manager.  In our conversation, we talk about: Lorraine's career and how she came to work at the Royal Crescent.The wonderful history of the hotel and how the Royal Crescent was one of Bath's roughest areas in the 1980s and 1990s. How the American and Middle Eastern markets are busy with the Chinese market definitely coming back. Types of guests willing to pay upwards of £1,100 for a junior suite. The impact of Bridgerton and film tourism on the hotel and Bath as a visitor destination. Getting trained staff to the service level required.  Going into schools to talk about her job to inspire the next generation of hospitality recruits. The launch of a new set of toiletries with Jo Loves - the first hotel range in association with Jo Malone outside of London. The Golden Keys concierge team who can access pretty much anything their guests require in the UK - no one else has this status in the West Country.  Her favourite places Iford Manor and Castle Farm, Midford.  It was such a pleasure chatting with Lorraine. My only issue was the sound quality of my microphone. I am so sorry. Please stick with it, as Lorraine is who you most want to hear from, and she shares some wonderful insights into life as a General Manager in a luxury hotel. Enjoy the episode.  To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textWelcome to this week's podcast, where I’m going behind the scenes of Bristol City Centre and talking to Tom Swithinbank. Tom's work involves helping businesses become more sustainable and making the city a more appealing place to visit. Tom works for Visit West, specifically for the Business Improvement Districts, which support around 1,200 businesses in the city centre.In this episode, we talk about: How Tom’s work contributes to the Bristol City Council’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2030.A free bike check service called Dr BikeAn initiative for city centre workers to bring their own lunch boxes to Finzels Reach food market to cut down on packaging waste - a great initiative that all of us can consider, no matter where we work. The use of cargo bikes for businesses who need local deliveries Making the city look more appealing using planters, murals and green walls, all of which make the city centre a better place.We also discuss the future of the historic Castle Park and the exciting plans to redevelop that rather colourful derelict building on the corner. Along with the plan to landscape the area next to Cabot Circus to strengthen the park's link to the shopping centre.  I hope you enjoy the episode.  Bristol City Centre BID Redcliffe & Temple BID Broadmead BIDConnect with Tom Swinthinbank on LinkedIn For more links to things and businesses discussed (podcast on website)To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn today's episode, my conversation with Graham MacVoy, Managing Director of the visitor attraction Wake the Tiger in Bristol, truly blew my mind.   Wake the Tiger is the permanent 'baby' created by the team running the unique Boomtown festival. The pandemic has much to answer for, but it gave Graham and his directors the headspace to provide a more permanent base for their creative ideas, so the 'amazement park' Wake the Tiger was created and opened in 2022.    I listened in awe in this episode as Graham revealed how his love of snowboarding led to his career running snowboarding events in Europe, which led to his owning a company that led operations at festivals such as Creamfields, BST Hyde Park, and Boomtown. Graham talked about how the Wake the Tiger was a huge punt of an idea which thankfully saw 190,000 in its first year of operations.  Wake the Tiger has brought Boomtown's talent and creativity into a permanent space that blows people’s minds and challenges us to think differently and creatively to make a difference to our lives and our planet.  He discusses everything from learning to run a visitor attraction to the importance of the arts and creativity in changing society.  Graham is an inspiration, and his out-of-the-box thinking about how we should behave as human beings and what is important certainly left me questioning everything about life!    He also talks about his love for his hometown of Dursley, Gloucestershire, on the Cotswold Way.  I hope you enjoy the episode.  Read the transcript here https://visitorelves.co.uk/podcast/Learn more and follow Wake the Tiger:WebsiteInstagram LinkedIn Company pageTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn today’s podcast, I’m heading to the Somerset levels to chat with Vicki Jones, owner of the award-winning Tractors & Cream glampsite.  Vicki and her husband Bryan worked in the hotel trade before they decided to upsticks and create their own hospitality business.  After feeling the pain of putting up the yurts each year, they decided to invest in these fantastic architectural geodomes.  Their beautiful site, with five domes and a large event dome, is extremely popular with families, hen parties, and even baby showers - all heading along for afternoon tea. Life and times at the site are documented regularly on YouTube, earning Tractors and Cream over 10,000 followers and a keen following of glampsite owners in the US, all looking to learn from Vicki and Bryan.  In the podcast Vicki shares how she promotes her business and provides us with some really useful tips on how to market a glamping business.  Find Tractors and Cream: https://tractorsandcream.co.uk/You Tube Instagram FacebookRead the transcript and top tipsEnjoy the episode.  To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sarah Bagg, founder of ReWork Consulting, about getting the best ticketing or booking system to support your business needs.   As a marketer, I've worked with several solutions, and I've noticed that most of them lack the automated link from email to CRM system. As a result, it's challenging to execute smart marketing strategies without manual intervention.  This can be frustrating and time-consuming. It restricts personalisation and generally feeds a lack of enthusiasm for email marketing.   Since ticketing or booking systems are at the core of many businesses in the visitor economy, I wanted to speak with an expert in this area.  Sarah is well-versed in operational systems supporting all departments and has many years of experience working in this area of the visitor economy, both on the client and supplier sides.Any investment in a new system is a huge undertaking.  Sarah has some really useful advice for those thinking about it. She also has some suggestions for those who have already made the investment and have found their system lacking.  Check out the written summary and find links here. Enjoy the episode!To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn this podcast episode, we focus on increasing bookings from inbound travellers or overseas tourists through the travel trade. My guests are Jon Chamberlain, Head of Marketing for VisitWest, and Mike Newman of B2Me Tourism Marketing. Jon has been working for 11 years to promote Bristol, Bath, and the surrounding areas as a European leisure destination. Mike helps destinations and businesses prepare their offers for the travel trade and represents them at shows worldwide. Many of us in the UK use travel agents like TUI or Jet2 for our holidays, and the rest of the world does the same. We discuss some of the questions that operators focused mainly on the domestic market may have. We cover topics including:£370 million value of overseas tourism to the VisitWest region.Tourism industry insights and marketing strategies for Bristol and Bath.The importance of relationship building with this sector. How to prepare for attending a travel trade eventWays to increase visitor spend and dwell time in destinations by promoting lesser-known products and experiences.Making tourism businesses travel trade-ready through digital systems and partnerships. Visit West's partnership with the OTA Get Your Guide to increase interest in the region. How the travel trade can bring business during shoulder times and dates. Moreover, we discuss the importance of viewing commission as profit, not cost, attending large European trade shows like ITB Berlin, and the success of the VisitWest's campaign, 'The England you know but better.' Lastly, our guests share their favourite places and things to do in the West. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn https://b2me.net/Connect with Jon on LinkedIn Visit West latest travel trade opportunities To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textToday's Marketing Insights is all about the 'groups' market. For many years, the domestic group travel or coach tour industry has been an important part of the UK’s tourism industry. Groups have historically been guaranteed business for many tourism organisations, with up to 50 people on a coach coming often during week day and shoulder periods.  However,  because of the pandemic, hundreds of coach companies, many of them well established, went out of business.  It's been devastating for them.  So, the question I have as a marketer in the visitor economy is, should it be a market that we are still looking at trying to attract?  If so, how have things changed and how do we market to these customers in 2024?  I am joined on the show by group travel specialist Steve Reed from Steve Reed Tourism to talk to me about it.  For the podcast summary and links head to https://visitorelves.co.uk/insights/Enjoy the episode To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textToday’s episode is all about email marketing and the simple things you can do to make it work more effectively to drive bookings.  Joining me on the show is Sarah Orchard of Get Fully Booked.  Sarah runs a marketing programme that helps small independent accommodation businesses improve their marketing and increase their direct bookings.  Sarah was also my very first guest on the podcast back in 2022. In that episode, she spoke about her luxury treehouse, Hudnalls Hideout, in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley. In this episode, Sarah shares some excellent tips based on her years of experience successfully managing email campaigns for her own businesses and for her clients. For a full summary of her thoughts and tips, head to visitorelves.co.uk/insights, where I will summarise Sarah’s helpful tips in episode 39.  Listen to Episode 1 where I chat with Sarah about Hudnalls Hideout, her luxury treehouse business,  where she also shares marketing tips from her sell-out business.  Find Sarah here: https://get-fully-booked.com/https://www.instagram.com/getfullybooked/To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIf large open-air events or air shows are your thing, you'll love this episode. In today’s podcast, I chat with Simon Hough, Head of Commercial Activities and Hospitality at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), the largest military airshow in the world.   We chat about the event and everything that goes into its creation across the year, including the logistical challenge of dealing with 253 aircraft coming into a single location for a week and the event's importance to the RAF and the wider aerospace industry. We also talk about Simon's role and how he went from managing events and concerts in England for Forestry England to RIAT in 2023.  RIAT, which takes place in the Cotswolds every July, is the largest public engagement event for the RAF.  With so many aircraft on display from 25 different countries, 43 nations represented and over 150,000 people visiting over four days, this is a very important international event in the West of England, where aerospace is a key industry.   This event has a massive £4m impact on the local economy each year and gives away £2m annually to support outreach in STEM subject learning across the country. Enjoy the episodeFind out more about the Royal International Air Tattoo. Connect with Simon on LinkedInTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textToday's episode is the first of my Marketing Insights series.  In it, I’m talking to the lovely Claire Robinson, founder and Creative Director of WeekendCandy.com, about the world of influencer marketing and how to work with Influencers in 2024.  Claire shares several tips on how to find the right people to work with and get the most out of the relationship, including:How to identify the right influencers for your target audience based on demographics and content tone/quality. Be strategic rather than focus on vanity metrics like follower count.The importance of a professional approach to working with influencers, being upfront about budgets, and valuing their time and skills. The aim for long-term, multidimensional collaborations that offer benefits like SEO and reusable, evergreen content for both parties Claire is an accredited travel writer and content creator, running the travel website Weekend Candy, which provides inspirational content and listings on where to stay and what to do in the UK.  She has been doing this for many years and has an excellent reputation as a creator and inspirational influencer of her audience, with a reach of thousands across her channels.  Enjoy the episode, and let me know your thoughts on Instagram.  Find Claire here https://weekendcandy.com/To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textDigital marketing is constantly evolving, and it can be a challenge to keep up. I recently had a conversation with Jarrod Lopiccolo (CEO) and Kate Sikora (Managing Partner) from Noble Performs, a digital agency that specialises in travel and tourism marketing. With over 20 years of experience in the US, they established a UK agency in Bristol in 2019. Their clients include destinations like Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Cotswold Tourism, and St George's music venue in Bristol.In the visitor economy marketing industry, the US is often ahead of the UK. Therefore, talking to Noble was helpful in understanding what is coming down the line and what we need to plan for. During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:The differences in tourism marketing approaches between the US and the UK.Insights into the future of digital marketing, including Search Generative Experience, AI, and the first-party cookie approach to overcome the abolition of third-party cookies in 2024.Changing behaviours regarding search on social media platforms, such as TikTok, versus review websites.The growth of interest in second and third-tier destinations, luxury markets, and wellness and sustainable travel.Jarrod expressed his love for the Cotswolds (as a US citizen), and Kate shared her appreciation for the whole of the South West of England.We also talked about our favourite places to eat, including Roots and Snobbies, Pho, Riverstation (all in Bristol), and the Porthminster Beach Cafe in St Ives, Cornwall.Read the transcript and find links To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textWelcome to episode 35 of the Visitor Elves podcast.  Today, I’m joined by Fiona Matthews, Creative Director of Super Culture, an organisation that creates cultural experiences in Weston-super-Mare. Super Culture creates large-scale events such as the annual light festival GLOW and Whirligig and works on initiatives involving the entire community. Super Culture is providing a key component of the regeneration plans for Weston.  This episode will be useful for anyone interested in the arts, placemaking and destination marketing. It will also be useful to those at the top of the organisation responsible for setting the culture.   Our conversation got me thinking about culture's key role in marketing a place.  We all know that the distinctive local culture sets places apart. It’s often not about the big attractions, it’s about the people, the attitudes, and the vibe that makes a place distinct.  Fiona relayed a quote from the international artist Morag Myrescough, working on a project in Weston; she said, ‘Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come’.   Join me as I talk to Fiona about their work to put creativity and culture at the heart of Weston’s community and why culture is so important in uniting people and creating distinctiveness. Enjoy the episode.Super WestonTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textWelcome back to the first Visitor Elves episode of 2024.  I hope you had a good Christmas season and your plans for 2024 are shaping up.   In today's conversation, I'm going behind the scenes of Ashton Gate Stadium, home of Bristol City Football Club, Bristol Bears, and Bristol Flyers, with the wonderful, Dublin-born CEO Mark Kelly of Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter. We chat about:The exciting plans to develop a new Bristol Sporting Quarter with a 5,000-capacity conference centre,  two hotels, multi storey car park office, housing and retail space. How concerts such as Take That (June 2024) are the biggest drivers of staying tourists at Ashton Gate.How they had to turn down £10m of potential conference business last year as the facilities were just not big enough. Mark's career journey from a hotel management qualification to his amazing job today, which includes leading a new game reserve in Botswana for the Lansdown family. Some of his favourite places to eat include Aqua, Sow & Cow, and Cafe Burra (owned by some of the Bristol Bears players).  Enjoy the episode!Read the transcription here. To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textIn this festive episode just before Christmas, we have a returning guest, the lovely Kathryn Davis, Managing Director of VisitWest, shedding light on the key aspects of the recently launched Destination Management Plan (DMP). The VisitWest regional area, including Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset, brings in a staggering £2 billion to the local economy each year from tourism. Proving once again the importance of our industry.   In our conversation Kathryn shares:  How business has been in 2023 up until September for the region.Headlines of the Destination Management Plan, unveiling key growth markets, distinctive themes, and the necessary elements for infrastructure, product development, and skills.How towns, villages, and businesses in the wider areas can leverage visitors by aligning with VisitWest's plans outlined in the DMP, launched in November 2023.The significance of VisitWest being one of the first Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEP) and how can lead to future opportunities for lobbying and collaboration.  Her insights into why a tourism tax is not a straight-forward solution to solving the funding gap for destination management. A look into what's on the horizon for the region, including upcoming projects and initiatives that will significantly shape the visitor landscape.I recorded the podcast on 2nd November 2023 a few weeks before the podcast was released so there are future references to openings such as the Bristol Beacon which have come and gone - nothing stands still in this industry!Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous 2024!Further links https://www.visitwest.co.uk/ https://www.visitwest.co.uk/about-us/destination-management-planTo share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a textToday's podcast episode features the delightful George Combe, talking about the growth and popularity of the Mendip Activity Centre in North Somerset.Spread across 250 acres, Mendip Activity Centre is the largest independent activity centre in the West. With a dry ski slope, toboggan run, watersports on the river, rock climbing, and much more.During the pandemic, the team made the decision to open their campsite to the public, where previously it had only been accessible to schools and children's groups. The result has been over 100,000 visitors and a rapidly growing reputation for being one of the South West's best campsites.In 2022, they won silver in the South West Tourism Awards for the best campsite, and they are eagerly awaiting the results of the 2023 awards, which will no doubt be fruitful.There's a lot happening at the centre, from instructor training to a dedicated accessibility programme. Sustainability is high on their agenda as they explore more of the site with a resident ecologist.If you're interested in what it takes to run a successful outdoor active experience and campsite, then you'll love this episode.Find out more about Mendip Activity Centre. Full transcript and summaryInterested in the Virtual Marketing Director Service - find out more.  To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏