To discuss the results of the most recent Visitor Survey.

The Chairman asked Julia White, Visitor Manager, what happed to all the data and statistics collected. The Visitor Manager confirmed the team had 10 years’ worth of economic impact data which was used to inform their three year plan and formed the basis of their strategies. She added as there was no marketing budget the team had to work with business partners, such as hotels and transport partners to achieve the action plan objectives. They worked together to create overnight stay package deals and had an accommodation booking service with an online shop to sell tickets for attractions and events.

Councillor E. Wilson stated people came from London and the Home Counties to see the castle, a few stayed over and then leave. He wanted to encourage visitors to stay and enquired if there were any deals on parking as it was difficult to park in the Town and could be expensive. The Visitor Manager stated there was not the budget to get in-depth qualitative data, all the team was able to do was push the positive message of what was on offer and publicise the next big event that was due to take place in the Town. Councillor Alexander stated Windsor Racecourse used the data compiled by the Visitor Management Team in order to obtain planning permission for their proposed hotel.

The Visitor Manager confirmed the number of visitors to the Town had increased; however, the figures were usually a year in arrears. She thought there was a decline in day visitors but a rise in staying visitors but, the methodology of how figures were collected had changed last year so it was not possible to make an accurate comparison.

Councillor Bowden stated the Town was in competition with several sites. Windsor was essentially day visits driven by ongoing royal events. He added he had seen a document somewhere describing Windsor as London’s country estate. The Visitor Manager confirmed her team had been using that to position Windsor as a place to visit to the Greater London and international audience. Councillor Bicknell queried if day visitors were repeat visitors as that made Windsor tourism more sustainable. The Visitor Manager confirmed the Borough as a whole received 7.5m visitors per year and a large proportion were repeat visitors. The figures were skewed a little by nearby catchments for shopping and dining.

Councillor Bhatti stated social media posting accounted for two per cent of visitors. The Visitor Manager said the team were new to social media and were still learning. Their following on social media was growing and they had set up profiles on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The two per cent were made up of people aged 16–35 years but, they were also seeing an increase in more family groups. The team were talking to partners about how to best market the Town as a family focused destination. There had also been discussions about whether or not there was a gap in provision for older children and teenagers.

Michael, a local resident, stated that social media was a cost effective way to promote the Town so he was shocked that only 2% of visitors were as a direct result of social media, he felt it should be far higher. He added people enjoyed the Town because it was traditional with great architecture and he had concerns about how the Town was possibly going to change over time. The Town should pursue its traditional roots further and respect the heritage and rich history of the Town. The Visitor Manager confirmed the figures were from last year and they now had a member of the team solely dedicated to social media and marketing Windsor using different platforms.

Helen Price said she understood there was a strategy to increase spend and visitors but, she was not seeing it in the report. Hotels were saying they needed more hotel rooms too. The Visitor Manager said she would continue to work to increase staying visitors but, the figures represented were similar to the national figures. She added that without enough bed stock in the Borough, visitors were likely to be lost to hotels outside of the Borough. Some visitors would stay at the Copthorne Hotel in Slough for example due to availability and better rates. If Windsor offered that, it would increase visitors which would then increase spend. Helen Price commented that parking was very expensive in Windsor. The Visitor Manager said the results of the next years’ survey would show what impact parking charges had made.

Councillor Da Costa stated the area of spend that had increased was in entertainment. The Visitor Manager confirmed entertainment covered arts centres, theatre and heritage sites.