Agenda item

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure updating Members on the progress that has been made in achieving the Growing Gloucester’s Visitor Economy Action Plan during 2021 and presenting the Tourism and Marketing Plan 2022.

99.1    The CabinetMember forCulture andLeisure introducedthe reportand thanked the Tourism and Destination Marketing Team for their hard work. Heconfirmed thatthe teamcurrently consistedof just4 officersand commendedthem fortheir workin promotingGloucester asa touristdestination on the Visit Gloucester website, which he noted had seen a 5.6%increase from2019 inonline visitors.The CabinetMember forCulture and Leisure confirmedthat the team had been made permanentemployees ofthe Counciland expressedthe viewthat theyhad madeconsiderable achievementsin a short period oftime.

99.2    The Chair commented that the report was very detailed and that he wasparticularly impressed with the timescales. He expressed the view that theTourism and Destination Marketing Team seemed to work efficiently and thathe waspleased tosee regular content on thewebsite.

99.3    Councillor Hiltonexpressed theview thatthe reportwas excellent.He referred to previous difficulties with Marketing Gloucester and noted his viewthat itwas rightfor theCouncil tobring theservice backin-house. Hereferred to the target audiences of the Nordic market, North American andCanadian travellers outlined in Appendix 3, and asked whether thought hadbeen givento encouragingvisitors fromother Europeancountries. TheCabinet Memberfor Cultureand Leisureconfirmed thatthe Covid-19international travel restrictions had posed a challenge for European visitorsbut notedthat theGloucester Cajunand ZydecoFestival includedperformances fromDutch and Germanartists.

99.4    In response to a further query from Councillor Hilton as to whether there wasan expectation that the position would change as the city emerged from thepandemic, the Head of Culture confirmed that the target audiences had beenselected in response to how the market was recovering and that the Nordicmarket in particular had been singled out as an area of growth. He confirmedthat this was not at the exclusion of other countries but as the Tourism andDestination Marketing Team were a small team, there was a need to focustheir resources.

99.5    In response to a query from Councillor Hilton concerning the statement in thenarrative at 3.9 that the Council would not work with certain publications, theCabinet Member for Culture and Leisure confirmed that this was an error and thestatement wouldbe removedfrom thereport aheadof itbeing consideredby Cabinet.

99.6    In response to comments from Councillor Hilton regarding online tourismpromotion, the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure noted that he wasmindful that some residents, such as the older generations, still relied onnewspapers but confirmed that the pandemic had changed the way manypeople accessedtheir local news.

99.7    Councillor Pullen referred to the narrative in Appendix 3 concerning targetaudiences and requested clarification on whether this included students. TheCabinet Member for Culture and Leisure confirmed that students and peopleunder 25 were included in the target audience. In response to a further queryfrom Councillor Pullen regarding the night-time economy and young people,the Head of Culture confirmed that promotion was not being restricted to thenight time economy, and there would also be a focus on the marketing ofGloucester’s food scene,festivals andother cultural events.

99.8    Councillor Pullen welcomed the narrative at 3.9 concerning the considerationof ethicaland environmentalimpacts ofall marketingactivities. Inresponse toa queryfrom CouncillorPullen regardingthe Sunand DailyMail publications, the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure reiterated that thiswas a clerical errorwhich would be corrected.

99.9    In response to a request from the Chair for clarification on what was meant by the term ‘REM’ in the Tourism and Destination Marketing Plan, the Headof Culture confirmed that this was an abbreviation for the Richmond EventsManagement companywho werecontracted bythe Councilto deliverthe TallShips Festival.

99.10  The Chair noted that some residents did not have access to the internet andasked whether the Council made use of billboards in the city centre as amarketing tool. The Head of Culture confirmed that Gloucester BusinessImprovement District(BID) wereinvesting inmore digitalscreens whichwould be rolled out across different areas of the city, noting that tourismmarketing andadvertisement wouldform partof thatcontent. Healso confirmed that there were several tourism leaflet pick-up points available inhigh footfall areas across the city, including supermarkets, shopping centres,visitors attractions and the bus and railway stations. The Cabinet Member forCulture and Leisure noted that making use of community boards in localsupermarkets was afurther option toexplore.

99.11  In response to a question from Councillor Durdey as to whether the SearchEngine Optimisation (SEO) work was undertaken internally or externally, itwas confirmed that Search Engine Optimisation was provided in-house and theCouncil’s paid digital media wasoutsourced externally.

99.12  Councillor Gravells noted his agreement with amending the narrative at 3.9and expressed the view that the Council should not be in the business ofdictating which publications were acceptable to work with. Referring to thetarget audienceand earliercomments fromCouncillor Hiltonregarding European tourists, he suggested that the Council could ask its twinned citiesto helppromote thecity asa touristdestination. Inresponse tofurther comments from Councillor Gravells regarding the campaign celebrating thefilming of Harry Potter around Gloucester Cathedral, the Cabinet Member forCulture andLeisure confirmedthat thiswas akey drawfor manytourists.

99.13  Councillor Organ asked whether the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrationswould be included in the cultural strategy. The Cabinet Member for Cultureand Leisure confirmed that there was a plan to plant a circle of trees in thecity tocommemorate thePlatinum Jubilee.He alsoconfirmed hisexpectation that there would be additional events including street partiesorganised bycommunities.

          RESOLVED – That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the report.