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CHIEF EXECUTIVE INTRODUCTION<br />
We are Marketing Cheshire<br />
But for the consumer we will now be promoting<br />
a new identity – Chester, Cheshire and Beyond.<br />
Why the change? A couple of reasons:<br />
• Chester is clearly our best-known asset and<br />
has been growing in popularity over the<br />
past few years as a short break destination<br />
both domestically and internationally. But<br />
our job is to ensure that more visitors stay<br />
overnight and to do that we need to position<br />
ourselves as a destination with lots to do<br />
and a broad appeal.<br />
• Visitors aren’t really interested in<br />
administrative boundaries – they want to<br />
zig zag across Cheshire popping into Wales,<br />
Wirral, Merseyside, Manchester and the<br />
Peak District as they please, the synergies<br />
with those areas make Cheshire a stronger<br />
destination.<br />
• We want to be attractive to more partners<br />
because it is our partners that keep us<br />
sustainable. Our box office continues<br />
to grow and our accommodation<br />
booking interface now offers hotels a<br />
much smoother experience and lower<br />
commissions than the big aggregators.<br />
IMAGES<br />
TOP LEFT: KATRINA MICHEL<br />
TOP RIGHT: OUR NEW IDENTITY<br />
ROUNDEL: CHESTER RACES<br />
Take a tour of our new website. It offers a much<br />
better experience for our visitors and better<br />
promotional opportunities for our partners.<br />
Promoted BlogSpot anyone?<br />
Alongside our new site, we are evolving the<br />
way we communicate the destination from a<br />
campaign focus to an “always on” programme<br />
of themes that provide a reason to visit<br />
across the year – not just in the summer or at<br />
Christmas (although we certainly won’t forget<br />
those). The world of tourism is changing. We<br />
need to focus on things that are “only here and<br />
only now” by which I mean on Cheshire’s most<br />
distinctive experiences and creating an urgency<br />
around visiting. We have seen some significant<br />
investments in our hospitality infrastructure<br />
with more in the pipeline. So, we need to keep<br />
Cheshire top of mind. We all know that word of<br />
mouth is our best channel, so the more people<br />
visit the more will come.<br />
In a world of booking.com<br />
and TripAdvisor, why<br />
do we still need a<br />
destination management<br />
organisation? Well, in the<br />
words of Carly Simon,<br />
nobody does it better.<br />
We live in Cheshire, we<br />
care about Cheshire and<br />
we want to promote the<br />
best of Cheshire, great<br />
and small … not just those<br />
who can pay the most or get<br />
the most likes.<br />
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