Agenda item

(To receive a report from Mary Powell, Place & Investment Manager and Justin Brown, Assistant Director – Growth, which outlines the Strategic Plan Objectives to support the Visitor Economy in Lincolnshire)

Consideration was given to a report from the Place & Investment Manager and the Assistant Director - Growth which outlined the Strategic Plan Objectives to support the visitor economy in Lincolnshire. The Committee was informed that the Plan comprised of three interconnected objectives: business support, product development, and enhancing the visitlincolnshire.com website.

Research undertaken by the Economic Development (ED) Team had indicated that there were multiple types of attractions in Lincolnshire that were generally popular among tourists, however they were unaware that they could be found in Lincolnshire which highlighted the importance of promoting the County.

The Council continued to work with District Council colleagues and Destination Lincolnshire, which operated the County Council’s social media. Work was underway to establish a website analytics group to examine the site’s traffic and it was anticipated that the information collected by District Councils would also feed into this data.

During consideration of this item, the following matters were reported:

·         Members welcomed the progress outlined in the report and the efforts made by the ED Team to attract tourists and empower Lincolnshire’s visitor economy.

·         It was suggested that the training and workshops offered as part of the business support offer may be inaccessible to micro-business owners who do not have capacity to close their business to attend. The Place & Investment Manager acknowledged the Committee that the tourist industry in Lincolnshire was characterised by small/micro-businesses, which was considered a strength. She acknowledged that smaller businesses may have difficulty finding availability to attend sessions which was why one-to-one bespoke support was provided by the Growth Manager – Visitor Economy.

·         Members raised questions regarding the content of the training sessions and workshops that were ran as part of the strategic plan; the Place & Investment Manager highlighted that a number of Workshops were held about the Kings Coastal Path. Training also addressed topics  such as future-planning and connectivity.

·         Members recommended that more could be done to attract tourists to churches across Lincolnshire; the Place & Investment Manager agreed that church tourism was vital to the visitor economy, and the ED Team was working to develop multiple themed walks, one of which could be church-themed.

·         The ED Team planned to create itineraries on the Visit Lincolnshire website as part of a growth area for 2024 to inform days out for families.

·         A substantial number of tourists returned to Lincolnshire which was considered both a strength and weakness of Lincolnshire’s tourism offer.

·         It was suggested that larger-scale events posed excellent opportunities for the visitor economy; particularly the 400^th anniversary of Boston, Massachusetts in 2030 which was supported by many in Lincolnshire given its namesake. The Place & Investment Manager highlighted that anniversaries were a key focus of the Team, and agreed that the event should be celebrated in Lincolnshire. Irish and Italians were a key demographic in Boston in the US, thus it was important to target approaches towards these groups, however it was also noted that these demographics were passionate about their ancestry, and would welcome involvement with an event which connected to Boston, Lincolnshire.

·         Members suggested the focus on ‘Power of three’ which was defined as ‘city, coast and countryside’ was a limiting strategy. The Place & Investment Manager informed the Committee that the strategy was adopted in 2015-16 following research which indicated that visitors were confused as the Lincolnshire tourism offer was overly broad. It was noted that despite the prioritisation of the ‘Power of Three’, a wide range of work was being undertaken on other types of specific tourism, such as Market Towns and set jetting.

·         Place & Investment Manager accepted the suggestion from Members that the product development priorities for 2024 outlined on page 22 of the report did not fit well into the website strategy in Appendix A.

·         Members questioned how success was measured within the tourist sector by the ED team. It was advised that the click-through to booking statistics were the most accurate indicator of performance as it suggested that the content on the Visit Lincolnshire website encouraged prospective visitors to make a booking. Members welcomed the click-through rate of 19.3% on the Visit Lincolnshire website given the national average was 4.7%. It was further suggested whether click-through to booking should be a key performance indicator (KPI) which was considered and monitored via scrutiny on a quarterly. The Place & Investment Manager noted this may be challenging to acquire information from district councils, however businesses were good at communicating and agreed to assess the matter.

·         Members sought clarification on the theme of ‘segmentation’ outlined in the report; they were informed that it specifically referred to the product development objective and was considered as key to the success of the visitor economy, particularly in regards to ‘segmented’ products that empowered specialist tourist groups such as walkers, cyclists and bird watchers.

·         Following the Covid-19 pandemic it was difficult to predict tourist behaviour and preferences, and international tourism had not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

RESOLVED

1)      That the satisfaction of the Committee be noted regarding the current progress of the Visit Lincolnshire Team and website

2)      That the 2024/25 development plan and priorities as outlined in the report be noted.

3)      That the Committee endorses the strategy for visitlincolnshire.com

4)      That comments made by the Committee be taken under consideration by relevant officers and the portfolio holder.

[note: Councillor S Bunney left the meeting at 11:04am]