Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Place and Economy on the Destination Management Plan with an emphasis on data and visitor spend.

The Committee had before it and NOTED a *report from the Director of Place and Economy.

The Economic Development Team Leader highlighted the following:

The Destination Management Plan Update Report was requested by Members and provided a summary of tourism data and how this supported the delivery and review of the Council's Destination Management Plan.

The Council's Destination Management Plan was currently being reviewed for the next five years.  The Destination Management Plan directly supported the Economic Strategy and complemented or was supported by project work such as the Shared Prosperity Fund Delivery Plan.

With regards to data, the Economic Development team utilised several data streams to monitor tourism trends locally.  There was a delicate balance between usefulness of data and value for money as the majority of the data had a cost element attached to accessing it.  Therefore, the team made use of the best value data for ongoing monitoring and then commissioned the more bespoke elements such as the Visitor Survey periodically when needed.  The Visitor Survey was a useful research tool to understand visitor profiles, characteristics, destinations of choice and feedback for helping shape the new Destination Management Plan.

Visitor Survey:

• The 2024 Visitor Survey, undertaken between Easter and October this year, surveyed just over 600 people.
• It showed that Mid Devon's visitors were predominantly day visitors (66% coming from within the South West).
• 2024 saw a slight increase in family visitors from the 2016 survey which directly linked to the growth of new attractions since then such as Bear Town and the funded project work through Shared Prosperity Fund such as the Swan Trail.
• Visitor Satisfaction was high with a percentage of 83% being repeat visits.
• 34% of visitors were couples over 55, which was the target customer base for the Mid Devon Walking Festival

The Report before Members also identified other data streams the team used including:

• An annual Volume and Value of Tourism Report, which outlined visitor spend data, showing that in 2023, Mid Devon attracted approximately 232,000 staying visits combined with approximately 1.4 million day visits, generating an estimated £121 million worth of visitor spend in the local economy. Approximately 5% of Mid Devon jobs were tourism related.
• Additionally, the Economic Development Team had footfall data, which allowed them to monitor footfall data to our main town centres, which included visits by day/time, dwell time, visit frequency and catchment data. 
• The Economic Development team also had coach booking information, although currently that was only for the coach bays in Tiverton.
• Digital Engagement data that the Economic Development Team monitored such as through the Visit Mid Devon website and social media platforms.

Coming forward:

• A new Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) for Devon was formally approved by Visit Britain earlier this year.  This was a collaborative partnership consisting of Devon authorities and key destination management stakeholders across Devon.  This Partnership was in its early stages and was working on forming its Business Plan.  Mid Devon District Council had a seat on the Partnership Board and the Team would continue working with them. The Destination Management Plan would both support and be supported by the LVEP's wider business plan.
• Two new data sources the Team were working with included a new South West Tourism Data Hub, which was intended to collate data from tourism businesses and share this with LVEP members.

Secondly, a new organisation called Screen Devon was seeking to create a database of potential film/TV locations across Devon to support requests from that industry.  Once up and running, the Economic Development Team should receive data about requests for the Mid Devon area.

In regards to next steps for the Destination Management Plan, as part of the process for reviewing the Economic Strategy, the Economic Development Team was in the process of hosting a series of Informal PDG Workshops.  The next session on 23 January 2025 would focus on Tourism, Town Centres and Place as well as scoping the revised Destination Management Plan, all Members were invited to attend.

Discussion took place with regard to:

·         Visitor spend data came from National Tourism data. The data set was not included within the report.

·         Whether it was possible to have Town Centre data?

·         The data was in a standard format to allow comparisons to be made year on year.

·         In order to gather Town Centre data, visitors would need to agree to a data sharing agreement, and the survey would be a completely separate data gathering exercise.

·         There were 1,553 full time equivalent tourism related jobs within the district, volunteers were not included within that number.

·         Whether there were any apprenticeships or educational facilities available to help bring people into the tourism industry? Comment was made about there being a void in further education in the district and Petroc College not offering any tourism specific courses.

·         Recruitment and Training – what were the issues and challenges?

·         There were two data sets; the Visitor survey which interviewed visitors face to face, and the National Survey.

·         The Economic Development Team were organising a networking event early in 2025 and would be asking businesses what recruitment and training opportunities were needed.

·         The Cambridge Economic Impact Model (using national tourism surveys and regional local data) was one of the tools that the tourism industry used and had confidence in.

·         The Tourism survey was an annual survey.

·         How often the visitor survey was repeated remained to be decided due to the cost. If it was to become more frequent then the Economic Development Team would have to ask for more funds to be allowed within the budget. The Visitor Survey was a full package with people on the ground interviewing visitors then collating the information and writing up a full report.

Note: *report previously circulated.