David Quarmby, Chairman of British Tourist Authority

A timely event - In five short years, lottery funding invested in existing and new cultural assets has achieved a step change in the quality and diversity of UK’s cultural assets.

12 cities across the UK are now competing for nominations for European City of culture 2008. These two factors create a real synergy across the country; a sense of whole being more than the sum of the parts; a nationwide movement.

In the face of F & M, September 11^th and declining tourism - this is a huge opportunity. Visitor numbers are recovering, spending is still 10 to 12 per cent down; mainly because of the recovery is in the lower-spending shorthaul traffic. But long haul especially from the United State is not yet recovering. These negative factors have had a positive result - Government is taking tourism seriously. Making three BTA Campaigns possible; the current being Only in Britain, Only in 2002, offering a partnership model for the future.

The growth in low cost air traffic across Europe, doesn’t benefit just outbound but also inbound travel from Europe. For 2003 we are planning a capital cities campaign and including London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester to promote a programme of cultural city breaks.

From the United States we are targeting Affinity Groups. This is a "mcb" experience - the money can’t buy experience which depends on the cultural sectors making available behind the scenes visits, meetings with curators, lectures and private dinners.

Loyd Grossman, Chairman, the Campaign for Museums
Prepare for Change and Challenges

There are three dominant factors in UK culture.

it’s in constant change - seismic change

it’s enormously rich - just take museums and galleries - 2,500

it’s institutionalised and subject to state intervention, political pressure

only a few cultural attractions existing outside the mould

Structurally the change in the museum sector is the bringing together of museums, libraries and archives, which in time may be seen as a good thing.

The regional agenda is becoming more dominant - regional assemblies as they develop will play a part in the cultural agenda.

The widening of higher education where 50 per cent of all school leavers go to university will in theory support the growth of the cultural sector. However, current figures show that the growing proportion of educated people has not grown the museums audience substantially.

Why - possibly too many alternative leisure choices; technology at home; watch fancy technology and the prostitution of search engines for example.

The ageing population will benefit the cultural sector but:

We must go on doing things better.

We must all shout louder in a crowded market place.

Sue Howley
(to come)

Alan Mew
(to come)

Discussion

Janet Monteith ETC pointed out that regional tourist boards, particularly Southern Tourist Board, had pioneered a benchmarking system for smaller attractions. This had failed due to lack of support as they had to make a charge for this.

Susie Fisher emphasised the importance of qualitative measures. Alan Mew agreed and said that they had built some into their research but more would be valuable. Susie suggested that attractions worked together and commissioned syndicated research. The panel agreed but some were too competitive to think along those lines.

Rotterdam was well-known as a port but not generally as a cultural centre. People would come to Rotterdam for a specific event not to enjoy the destination as a whole. In fact Rotterdam had "water" - the port, great architecture, festivals and events, shopping and clubbing and art and culture.

They only had 3 years to plan Rotterdam City of Culture in 2001. They had an extra £50 million for events, only 2 per cent for marketing. In fact "marketing" was a dirty word, everyone wanted a lot of events. Rotterdam marketing was only set up at the beginning of 2001; advance promotion had 8included inviting domestic and overseas journalists to Rotterdam; briefing ground operators (but very late); a call centre was set up to handle booking for all events.

The results were impressive; 2 million extra visitors; Rotterdam was featured in 37 international tour operators’ programmes (none before); 7 per cent increase in hotel bookings, 5 percent increase in visitor spend; media coverage worth 10 million pounds.

Lessons learnt:: The importance of collaboration; the importance of constantly reinventing the product. In 2003, Rotterdam will be celebrating "water"; in 2005 "Architecture".

Wear a new coat every season.

Birmingham welcomes 24 million visitors a year; already £3 billion has been invested in new cultural facilities.

Birmingham’s bid is based on Birmingham’s culture - the world in which live and grow and which is constantly changing.

Birmingham has a need for a new image - 2008 is an opportunity to establish a new image for a vibrant Birmingham where half of all children are now non-white.

Birmingham’s bid is based on its facilities and its ability to deliver; so far some 650 projects are planned for 2008. Marketing - no plan as yet, but will retain the local input and responsibility.

In the question and answer session, several people raised the importance of promoting to local residents. Marianne Klein agreed and said creating pride in Rotterdam with residents was their number one goal. Stephen agreed. The commitment of volunteers in Manchester had been incredibly impressive and contributed to the success of the Manchester Games. How did you evaluate your success with sponsors, was another question to Marianne Klein. She answered with the simple fact that most of them had stayed on board for new projects although the economic climate was taking its toll.

The question of sharing information and the problems of collaboration in a competitive market was debated again.

Victor Middleton chairing the session stressed three important points:
The growth in cultural tourism

How this depended on being special and different while part of a global whole

Collaboration to gather and compare information and data was essential and small and large players should look at the best way of achieving this with the help of agencies such as Resource and the Tourist Boards.

David Hamilton, General, Manager, BTA German
The Pilcher effect

The story of Rosamunde Pilcher, the author, and her impact on the German market was told with great aplomb by David Hamilton. Here was an English author, who somehow met the needs of German for experiencing romance rooted in a kind of reality - Cornwall and the West Country. The filming of her books by ZDF had created a huge audience. The BTA had exploited this various ways. Most successful had been a trail of the West Country which included the places to visit. The first two editions of this printed publication had been sold out and they were now their third print-run.

The Rosamunde Pilcher success showed that it was not always what we assumed to be right for the market and to spot and develop a trend.

Paull Tickner of British Heritage Tours
Making the most of special events, anniversaries and festivals

Paull explored this theme in greater detail in relation to the American market. These are older, seasoned travellers, now coming in smaller numbers, but still significant. They want to stay three to five days, they want something special. Paull, working American travel agents can create programmes around anniversaries, celebrations and festivals. He mentioned as an example the 200th anniversary of Paxton, the Jane Austen Anniversary with a Festival in Bath in 2003, Christian Heritage, choirs, Chaucer, and the Tercententary of John Wesley. This is potentially a huge market but it is niche.

In the discussion the subject of Harry Potter came up and the restrictions put on its promotion by the film company. Several contributors mentioned the problems with their local authorities and others which made it difficult to invest in a new theme. David Hamilton suggested test-marketing an idea by using his email newsletters and then using that as "proof" to the Council that there was interest!

The four presentations of the last session concentrated on marketing with case studies from well-known attractions and a marketing consultant:

Glen Lawes, Director, Ironbridge
Repositioning Ironbridge
(to come)

Christine outline the successful lunch of Dynamic Earth, Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth and Magna. Each had a large marketing budget with the potential to reach targeted audiences. Each had been initially very successful exceeding their targets.

However, Magna was now settling down around 300,000; Dynamic Earth similarly; while Gunwharf Quay is still doing well. The latter is a mix of bars and designer shopping. Is the party over? Certainly not at Gunwharf Quay.

Large marketing budgets buy short-term brand loyalty. When it comes to the crunch - i.e. current market conditions, lottery funded attractions had to be realistic about their potential; make the most of commercial income but keeping the core brand i.e. the heritage safe for future generations.

Alison Gilbody, Marketing Manager, Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
— A collaborative Campaign

Alison outlined a collaborative campaign focusing on her Museum, the Museum of Manchester and the Manchester Art Gallery. She outlined the challenges relating to the ERD funding which meant that the money had to be spent before the Manchester Art Gallery reopened. She also discussed how they worked towards a common more family orientated audience as typified by the first two, but not necessarily by the Manchester Art Gallery.

The first ads featured a common logo and a more complicated message. In the second wave they refocused on each of their own identities while keeping the three venues for free in Manchester message.

She stressed how collaborative campaigns have to be a compromise and that everyone has their own agenda.

The pooled resources did however outweigh the disadvantages and visitor numbers increased by around 20 per cent. Some of that was due to the campaign.

Jason analysed the trends in the current leisure market. It was no longer enough to offer value for money - visitors wanted an experience;

he concluded by stressing the importance of continued marketing.

The discussion session chaired by Jonathan Bryant, Chief Executive of Thinktank, considered the competition for visitors amongst attractions when actually everyone should focus on the bit leisure pond.

The problems associated with repositioning and rebranding were discussed in detail. Many had met opposition to plans for change from trustees and board members.

Disneyfying the experience at the Tower of London, for example, is not the answer. People may think that this is what they want but deep down most respect traditions and heritage. The balance is everything.

Ylva French, Conference Director, thanked all the speakers, the delegates, Thinktank, British Tourist Authority and the Museums Association. Summing up would follow on the website — here it is.