Flying the Flag

Here I am with Bath Abbey's Charles Curnock, high above the City of Bath in March 2013. The photo was published in the Church Times - much to my mother's pleasure! Having commented to Charles on the tatty state of the old flag, he was kind enough to ask me to hoist this brand new, larger version which now proudly flies above the Abbey, come rain or shine. There are a number of flag poles around the city centre: some fly the Union Jack, whilst others remain desperately bare. Flags, banners and bunting give such a great sense of festivity and celebration to a city, it would be great to see more!

Bath's New Visitor Attraction - Built in 1767

 

This week sees the re-opening of No 1 Royal Crescent, John Wood’s masterpiece of Palladian design. Following a £5million restoration programme, which has taken 9 months to complete, the main house is now reconnected to its original service wing.

 

I had a sneak preview last week, and I can honestly say that the transformation is fantastic.

The house now showcases the lives and times of those who resided there – above and below stairs – when it was first built. The number of dressed rooms has been doubled, from five to ten, with many other areas , including a well stocked gift shop, being extended and improved. The rooms present a wonderfully vivid picture of fashionable life in C18th Bath. Each room is a fine example of Georgian interior design with authentic furniture, paintings, objects and textiles. From the elegance of the drawing and dining rooms, the bedrooms and parlour, to the warren of servants’ corridors, kitchen, scullery and housekeeper’s room, visitors will be intrigued by the stories the house portrays.

Central to the success of the new attraction will be the way that visitor flows are managed. This is where the operators (Bath Preservation Trust) will need to be sharp: a new ticketing and visitor management system is being introduced and a small army of volunteer guides are on hand to assist. The success of No 1 Royal Crescent will be judged by visitors and their tour experience.

The main house at No.1 Royal Crescent will fully re-open on 21 June. 

Reflections on 2012

As we hurtle towards the end of 2012, it seems like barely a moment since I first arrived in Bath 12 months ago. Its been an action-packed year, with so many memorable moments - new Visitor Information Centre; new Marketing Strategy; Bath In Fashion; Diamond Jubilee; Olympics; terrible weather; the first Great Bath Feast; busiest Christmas Market... the list goes on! And, of course, the planning and delivery of Bath's biggest ever destination marketing campaigns.

 

More important than all of the activity, however, have been our partnerships that are starting to come together across the city, setting the foundations for some really fruitful and exciting work in the months ahead. I started this job with the intention of changing how Bath Tourism Plus engages and works with our partners: I am delighted with the progress that has been made so far.

Bath Tourism Plus has a big job to do in 2013 - to ensure that the city maintains a high profile as a premier visitor destination and that we continue to grow our visitor economy. We have set ourselves some tough targets – we want to increase visitor spend to £400million by 2014 - so this means that we need to be ahead of our competition and continue to attract new markets. To do this, we will work with our 500 industry partners and in partnership with the BID, building on this year’s high profile national and regional marketing campaigns which promote and drive business to Bath and North East Somerset.

We need to realise the legacy of the Olympics and ensure that Bath secures the benefits of all of the media profile that we secured in 2012 from global travel writers. I expect tourists to come to Bath as a result of the extensive media coverage that we received and I want Bath to get its share of the extra 1million visitors expected to the UK in 2013.

We are in a good place: investment in the tourism product is at record levels, with hotels being refurbished (The Hilton, Frances, Abbey and Bailbrook House to name just a few); our new 5 star Gainsborough under construction; and significant investment in the visitor attraction at Number 1 Royal Crescent all adding to our visitor offer. The completion of Brunel Square and the addition of new 6 restaurants now gives a great first impression for visitors to the city arriving by train or bus.

Even though the Jubilee celebrations and Olympics are behind us, in 2013 we can still look forward to a packed calendar of events: the Bath Literature Festival and International Music Festival go from strength to strength, whilst Bath in Fashion and The Great Bath Feast are rapidly attracting national recognition and drawing new visitors to the city. There are very few cities that can offer such a packed and eclectic year-long events programme.

Big issues in 2013 will be around transport, the public realm and the independent sector. I would like to see progress on how we deal with coaches in the city, otherwise we might find that coach companies start to take their business to places that are more coach-friendly. I have been impressed with the improvements that are being made to the public realm: my hope is that the improvements continue, since visitors expect our city to be world class – from the pavements upwards! Our independent businesses are what make Bath so special (and consequently so attractive to visitors): in these challenging times, I would like to see how we can collectively do more to ensure that these businesses are supported and nourished. Oh, and I shouldn't forget funding: the squeeze on budgets will continue, demanding greater creativity, more collaborations and new commercial models.

 

Here's to 2013!

 

 

Conjuring Up The Great Bath Feast

Ingredients
- A restaurant community hungry for more business
- The resources and enthusiasm of the Business Improvement District and Destination Marketing Organisation Teams
- A few keen individuals keen to make something happen
- A number of individual events with a food theme

Recipe
1. Add all of the above and mix with a generous slug of creativity.
2. Leave to prove, allowing others to contribute.
3. Distil into a beautiful guide and website which list all events.
4. Season and scatter a generous amount of PR hooks.
5. Whip up key social media, allowing others to spread the word.
6. Share.

Result
To be decided - The Great Bath Feast started last Sunday (23 September) and continues until the end of October. The festival includes over 70 individual events and involves over 150 businesses: the proof of the pudding will be on the impact of the promotion. What is already clear is that the Festival has engaged a large number of stakeholders, supports the brand positioning of Bath and has already generated significant media coverage. So watch this space!

www.greatbathfeast.co.uk

New App for Bath

We have spent the last 9 months developing the Official Bath App and I am pleased to announce that it is now is available to download from the Google Play and iTunes stores from today (22^nd August), by searching for 'Official Bath App'.

We want the free App to provide an interactive and invaluable source of information for both tourists and locals alike.

Featuring impressive functionality, the Official Bath App includes a comprehensive directory of events, attractions, shops, restaurants and accommodation – providing the user with directions, opening times and prices to help plan their visit. The App will also contain a range of constantly changing deals and money saving vouchers that can be redeemed at businesses across the city.

The App will showcase Bath as an exceptional cultural and tourist focused city, with listings for all attractions and amenities in the area. Tourists will benefit from the App’s ability to work completely offline, negating the need for expensive roaming charges, but more importantly, it will function as an interactive ‘guide in your pocket’ and will provide access to a huge amount of information and guidance at the tip of their thumb.

Other features within the App include the latest ‘Augmented Reality’ capability, enabling the user to explore the city and locate the best deals by using their phone’s camera. With built-in GPS mapping, a handy ‘Where am I’ is also able to pinpoint your exact location and detects things to see and do in your vicinity. A 'push' facility will allow us to send messages (special offers, etc) to App users, and this, along with banner advertising, will be a revenue source which will contribute to ongoing maintenance and development costs.

The App has been developed in partnership with our colleagues at the Bath Business Improvement District and is another example of strong collaboration across our two organisations. We both benefit from this, by reducing duplication and by making our combined budgets go further together.

We Are Stardust

Jodrell Bank is an awe-inspiring place. Incongruous in its heart-of-Cheshire location, it is amazing that this 55 year old structure is still at the cutting edge of astro physics. Quite mind blowing! Clearly - "Big Brains Live Here"!

It's therefore quite appropriate that my dear colleague Phil Reddy is now commemorated here. Phil was responsible for guiding the redevelopment of the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre through its planning and funding stages a couple of years ago. Who was to know at the time of the battles with cancer that he would fight so courageously.

So last week, at the kind invitation of the fabulous Teresa Anderson, a small group of Phil's family, friends and colleagues gathered in the Jodrell Bank Arboretum to plant a tree in Phil's memory. It was a sad but lovely occasion and an entirely appropriate memorial to a wonderful, intelligent man.

Tourism Minister Opens Bath Visitor Centre

Tourism & Heritage Minister John Penrose MP performed the official opening ceremony for Bath’s newly refurbished Visitor Information Centre yesterday (12 March), at the start of English Tourism Week. With more than 535 000 visitors a year, our Centre ranks second busiest in the country.

The Visitor Information Centre occupies a prime location close to the Abbey and the Roman Baths and is the first port of call for the 4.5 million who come each year. Tourism contributes over £357 million to the local economy of Bath and North East Somerset, providing more than 8000 jobs and 10 per cent of the total employment in the city.

The new-look Centre now houses the Bath Box Office and the Visitor Information Centre under one roof, providing a one stop-shop for visitors and residents to buy tickets for the many festivals and events, tours and attractions in Bath as well as displaying visitor information and offering a booking service for accommodation.

This smart new facility is the face of tourism in Bath and now reflects the quality of what’s on offer in the city!