In Notts We Love To Grow Tourism Locally

Taking to the national stage with its ground breaking ‘In Notts We Love’ tourism campaign, has paid dividends for Nottinghamshire’s visitor economy, Experience Nottinghamshire has discovered.

The campaign, led by Experience Nottinghamshire, in partnership with the National Tourist Board, VisitEngland, and supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF), has resulted in a £3.1m incremental visitor expenditure in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, which is the equivalent of 60 jobs*.

Jennifer Spencer, Chief Executive, Experience Nottinghamshire, said:

“It’s great to be able to report such excellent results from the first year of our campaign.  To generate this level of incremental spend and safeguard so many jobs is a fundamental boost to Nottinghamshire’s visitor economy.  And this is just year one!

“The ‘In Notts We Love’ campaign has enabled us to focus on and profile what is great about Nottinghamshire: our heritage, our culture, our legends, our local produce and our sporting prowess, and we can now build on this in our activity in years two and three. 

“We were extremely proud to work with Trent Bridge during the Investec Ashes first test match, which gave us a huge opportunity to showcase Nottinghamshire internationally, and acted as a launch pad for the wider campaign.

“Our billboard advertisements on the London Underground, and the level of social media activity this campaign has generated, have not only resulted in Nottinghamshire being on everyone’s lips this year, it was also on the ‘must do’ list of so many new visitors.”

Other notable successes in 2013 include:

• Record visitor statistics at Trent Bridge and a total economic impact for the Investec Ashes event estimated at £1.8m with an additional impact in day visitors.
• Doubling of visitors to Sherwood Forest’s Robin Hood Festival in July.
• 20% increase in the number of visitors to the Splendour music festival at Wollaton Park.
• A significant increase in visitor numbers to Wollaton Hall.

“It all underpins the importance of partnership working, and in Nottinghamshire, we, our partners and our stakeholders, really understand the importance of the visitor economy and its far reaching impact. 2013 has been a great year, and I look forward to Nottinghamshire building impact in 2014 and beyond,” said Jennifer Spencer.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive added:

“The RGF funding has provided a huge boost for tourism in England.  This project enables our public and private sector partners to work together to stimulate tourism and ultimately create new jobs throughout the country with particular emphasis on some local areas.  The first year has proved incredibly successful with destinations throughout the country benefiting significantly from this investment, boosting local economies and creating important jobs.”

David Ralph, Chief Executive D2N2 – the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said:

“The findings are very welcome and show the marketing offer is reaping its rewards in this area.  D2N2 has been and will continue to work very closely with Experience Nottinghamshire, as well as VisitEngland, to promote a coordinated offer, building on the current success to further enhance what we have to offer in Nottinghamshire.”