By the Visitor Manager, Julia White (15 mins).

The Visitor Manager explained to the Forum that the Visitor Management Strategy 2017-2020 was not a new strategy but a refresh.  It was noted to be a three year strategy with its objective to increase visitor expenditure from £380 million in 2006 by £45 million per year to 2016.  Members were informed that 80% of actions had been achieved or partly achieved contributing to a total visitor spend in 2015 of £485 million.

The Visitor Manager went onto explain that in 2015 the industry supported 7,157 FTE jobs, day visitors contributed 56% of expenditure, 63% of expenditure was on food & drink and shopping and the average spend per night was £105 for domestic visitors and £107 for overseas visitors.

The Visitor Manager explained that the data from 2011 to 2015 showed an increase in the volume of trips and overnights from both domestic and overseas visitors.

The Forum was informed that the Visitor Management & Marketing Team had played a significant role, connecting people to the tourism product, through information, marketing, PR and training and that this had included:

·         Generating PR that reached 290 million people worldwide since 2011, with a value of £4.3 million.

·         Developing a website which generates 1.2 million visitors annually.

·         Producing printed guides with a print run of 300,000 copies.

·         Training and deploying 210 local ambassadors.

·         Running a visitor information centre which is open 363 days per year, dealing with 90,000 customer enquiries and 8,500 telephone calls.

With regard to looking ahead Members were informed that:

·         The overall goal for 2017-2020 remained to deliver real terms growth.

·         The focus remains on getting overseas and domestic visitors to stay overnight in the borough and attracting the lucrative business tourism market.

·         Five quality themes from the previous strategy remain valid – Travel & Transport, Product Development, Marketing, Information, People.

·         Establish industry led task groups to oversee delivery.

The Visitor Manager explained that the key objectives were to:

·         To ensure visitors to the Borough could get in and out with ease.

·         To provide and influence the use of alternatives to car travel.

·         To ensure our product meets the needs of loyal visitors as their demands change, as well as meeting the needs of new visitors in emerging markets.

·         To rebrand Windsor to ensure its proximity to London and Heathrow was understood.

·         To reposition the destination as family-focused.

·         To provide accessible, accurate and appropriate information that puts the needs of the visitor first and to facilitate information sharing among the local tourism industry.

·         To ensure frontline staff act as proud ambassadors, understand the needs of visitors and are knowledgeable about the destination.

The Forum noted the next steps were to have:

·         Action plan written.

·         Task group leads recruited.

·         Terms of Reference for each task group agreed.

·         To have arranged kick off meetings.

·         Invited industry and council participants.

The Chairman felt that Windsor Castle needed to upgrade their forms of ticket sales via timed ticket slots.  Amanda Bryett (Windsor Tourist Guides) stated that she was unsure whether timed slots would work at the Castle but did state that tickets could now be bought online.