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At the Partners for England Forum held in London, VisitEngland’s Chairman, Lady Cobham announced plans to launch three new specialist tourism forums, significantly stepping up the national tourist board’s engagement programme with the domestic tourism industry.
Τhe three new groups will replace Partners for England and will include:
– The Strategic Industry Advisory Group – created to support VisitEngland’s role in driving the implementation of the National Strategic Framework for Tourism, this Group will meet twice a year to review the progress of the national tourism strategy and identify challenges and blockages to delivery. Members will include around 20 key tourism industry figures and organisations such as The Tourism Alliance and the British Hospitality Association.
– Visitor Economy Forum – a bi-annual meeting, the first due to take place in late November this year, will provide a chance for the industry to share best practice and debate a wide range of topics affecting domestic tourism. The Forum is open to all with an interest in the Visitor Economy.
– Destinations Forum – this will bring together around 40 destination management organisations with common strategic goals and organisational challenges and aims to provide them with an opportunity to engage with each other and VisitEngland around a joint agenda of national and local tourism business.
VisitEngland’s Chairman, Lady Cobham said: “There is now greater onus on VisitEngland to engage more extensively at the sub-national and destination level. The new forums announced today provide us with an opportunity to refine our communication and engagement with the industry so that we can be more effective at a time of significant change. “
Partners for England was set up in 2005 and has been key in bringing together England’s domestic tourism industry. Over the years the group has consistently championed the industry, driving forward a clearer national agenda for English tourism bringing together stakeholders and advocating a stronger voice for the domestic industry. This work supported the political directive to create VisitEngland, the national tourist board in 2009. The Forum also supported the creation of the English Tourism Intelligence Partnership and worked closely with VisitEngland to identify priorities for inclusion in the National Strategic Framework for Tourism England.
VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, James Berresford said: “We acknowledge the huge contribution that Partners for England has made to shape and coordinate domestic tourism industry in this country. However we are now moving into a new era for the industry which faces a changing infrastructure and fresh challenges. We need to adapt and refine our engagement with the industry to ensure that we meet Government targets to grow the value of English tourism and compete effectively on the world stage.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
