This Autumn, Visit Kent, working with its local authority partners, will be looking to engage both tourism and non-traditional tourism actors across Kent in an innovative Product Development Programme.
The objective will be to engender a bottom-up approach that engages and gives SMEs a sense of ownership that will deliver lasting change, create a legacy of experiential tourism and encourage the experience-led business collaboration that is expected by visitors.
Successful applicants will receive a wide range of support. From start to finish, the Visit Kent team will be on-hand to guide businesses through the process of launching a successful experiential tourism product.
Benefits include:
➡️1 to 1 consultation - Specialist consultancy to support the development of a business plan for the launch of a new product.
➡️Product testing - Market testing of concepts with consumers and travel trade, and feedback to further develop products.
➡️Content development - New photography for products and inclusion in inspirational content.
➡️Consumer marketing - Inclusion in targeted off-season consumer campaigns
➡️B2B distribution - Distribution of products to the travel trade through Visit Kent's established B2B connections and networks.
EXPERIENCE is a brand new project that will provide support in Kent to help develop the experiential off-season economy in the future. The project is a 4-year scheme that runs from 1st September 2019 to 30th August 2023, and is worth €23 million across 10 partners in France and England. Led by Norfolk County Council, both Visit Kent and the Kent Downs AONB are core partners with distinctive roles underpinned by budgets of €1.6 and €3.1 million respectively.
Experience aims to capitalise on the emerging global trend for personalised and local tourism experiences which increasingly provide the all-important reasons to visit. In the context of the current COVID-19 crisis, this project will be vital activity to rebuild the sector throughout Kent and the Channel area in 2020-21.
More information can be found here and to apply to take part in the Experience development programme, businesses need to contact Visit Kent on enquiries@visitkent.co.uk.