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Grant Funding and Bid Writing Toolkit for Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs)
TEAM is currently working on a project commissioned by VisitEngland and led by MSC Ltd aimed at providing the newly formed accredited LVEPs in England with support in the form of resources and tools equipping them with the knowledge and skills to secure grants, write funding bids and respond to business enquiries.
The toolkit will contain advice and resources for people who are less experienced or new to the task and as a refresher for those that are more experienced. The toolkit will be divided into sections: sections 1-3 are about preparation (finding funding; groundwork; funding fundamentals), section 4 is about process (applying for funding) and sections 5-8 provide or signpost to practical resources (tools and templates; information sources; top tips; and jargon buster).
The toolkit will be complemented by a searchable document identifying funding opportunities now and in the short-term future. Training material is also being prepared to form part of VisitEngland tourism training activity provision.
Project ongoing – started in February 2023 and due for completion at the end of April 2023.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
Sussex Wine Tourism Hub Feasibility Study
Sussex Modern, the wine tourism development agency for Sussex, is investigating the development of a hub or visitor centre and commissioned TEAM to provide a high level feasibility study for a potential visitor centre.
Wine centres can be categorised into three main groups (albeit these may overlap slightly): Museums / visitor attractions; Centres that are vineyard-specific / private; and Information / orientation centres. The work outlined case studies of a number of existing wine centres around the world of differing types, scales, and operating models, as well as the core conclusions arising from these.
TEAM also consulted with Sussex’s vineyards to gather their views in terms of what they need or want from a potential hub.
Project completed in January 2023.
Sussex Modern Facebook page
Destination Management Handbook by the World Bank Group
Towards the end of 2022, TEAM’s Managing Director, Dr Roger Carter, supported by TEAM Associates, David Ward-Perkins and Gaëlle Connolly, completed work on the World Bank Group’s first ‘Destination Management Handbook’. This is aimed primarily at ‘emerging destinations’ – i.e. destinations that require sound strategic and operational planning and an effective implementation structure, in order to realise their tourism potential cost-effectively and sustainably, using the UN SDGs as a framework.
The Handbook covers the following: The value of good destination management; Initiating the destination management process; Understanding the market; Destination management functions; Achieving quality, sustainability and resilience; Operating in the digital world; Establishment and management of DMOs; and The key lessons of the Handbook.
For more details and to download the handbook click here.
Project completed at the end of 2022.
Cover of the Destination Management Handbook by the World Bank Group
Destination Management Plan (DMP) Refresh for Lincolnshire Wolds
As a relatively ‘new’ destination, the Lincolnshire Wolds has the opportunity to pursue a more genuinely sustainable management approach than established areas. Whilst both the existing DMP and the research that underpins it underline the work that is required to build awareness of the destination, a strong start has been made with high quality online marketing tools and stakeholder support from both public and private sectors.
Given the transformational impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on leisure and tourism behaviours, Visit Lincoln and its partners commissioned TEAM to review and refresh their DMP in light of current trends. The work involved: Strategic, Research, Product and Media Review; Consultation and Stakeholder Engagement; Client Group Workshop; Presentation to stakeholders followed by wider consultation to feed into the production of the final DMP.
(Project completed in February 2023)
Alford, Lincolnshire Wolds, Photo by martin bennie on Unsplash
Marketing Growth Strategy – Lancashire Visitor Growth Strategy – Marketing Lancashire
Lancashire is a complex destination with different offers (including substantial rural areas and two AONBs) but no strong USPs. TEAM was commissioned to produce a focused strategy that could generate growth for the county (Sept 2019 – Feb 2020).
The work on the strategy included:
- A product audit that focused on the relative strengths and dimensions of Lancashire’s offer against a number of motivational themes, for example Family Fun, Active, Discovery;
- A segmentation and baseline analysis;
- Stakeholder consultation including workshops around the county;
- Site visits;
- A SWOT analysis;
- Steering group workshops;
- Developing aspiration growth targets for the county.
The strategy identified two primary experience themes – Wellness and Discovery, and Fun and Entertainment. Underpinning this was the concept of SMART Tourism which bases tourism development and management on five cross-cutting pillars: innovation, technology, sustainability, accessibility and governance. Specific project areas were identified within each of three strategic priorities.
TEAM also worked with Marketing Lancashire on providing plans that have been revised for post-Covid delivery and integrate Tourism, Culture and Place.
(Project completed in October 2022)
Cleveleys, Lancashire, Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash
Wrexham Destination Management Plan (DMP)
Wrexham County has been proactively developing its visitor economy for the last decade with numerous successes. In March 2022, Wrexham County Borough Council contracted TEAM to build on these (particularly the WHS and the emergence of Wrexham as a cultural hub) but also to provide a framework to address future challenges and opportunities – e.g. post-Covid recovery, the City of Culture shortlisting and bid opportunity, Levelling Up, sustainable development, continued development of destination profile, and visitor dwell time and spend.
TEAM’s approach to producing the DMP for Wrexham consisted of: Destination review; Consultation with stakeholders; Primary research; Situation and Options Report; Workshop to discuss ideas, options and priorities for the future to feed into the production of the DMP itself.
(Project completed in November 2022)
Cairngorms National Park Market Research
Cairngorms National Park Authority (CPNA) and its partners commissioned TEAM to carry out market research to guide decisions on how the destination could be most effectively positioned around the themes of sustainability and winter tourism beyond snow sports.
The research consisted of four key elements:
- A review of existing data held by CNPA and its partners;
- Analysis of relevant national and international data;
- Identification of best practices in competitor destinations in relation to sustainability and winter tourism; and
- Focused primary research to ‘stress test’ and augment the findings of the above work.
TEAM produced an Advisory Report setting out the key findings of the research and identifying the key target audience for the Cairngorms winter and sustainability messaging. It then goes on to recommend a positioning and messaging strategy for winter tourism and the key messages that the destination can use to communicate its sustainability initiatives.
(Project completed in July 2022)
Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore, Photo by Jack Skinner on Unsplash
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Visitor Marketing Review
In January 2022, WWT commissioned TEAM to carry out a thorough review of its approach to visitor marketing, with the dual objectives of increasing the number and value of its visitors from 2022 onwards, particularly during quieter periods of the year. The brief was focused on producing actionable recommendations which can be implemented practically by both the national and local visitor marketing teams.
The review comprised a number of key stages which were summarised in a Final Report: Situation Analysis; Audience Insights Research; Strategy and Positioning; and Recommendations for Implementation. The analysis and recommendations set out give a road map for marketing transformation.
(Project completed in July 2022)
Arundel Wetlands, Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Bed-stock Audit for the South of Scotland
At the end of 2021, TEAM was commissioned by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) to produce a bed-stock accommodation audit for the South of Scotland (Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway). The brief for the audit was to provide not only core factual details on sector, capacity, geography, facilities etc. but also richer content, including employment and Fair Work, Net Zero credentials and accessible tourism.
To achieve the objectives, TEAM sourced and aggregated the widest possible range of sources of accommodation data and listings and integrated them using both digital and manual de-duping. To obtain richer, qualitative information, TEAM also made enquiries direct to operators via a questionnaire, for a deeper dive on issues unavailable from accommodation databases.
The deliverables for the project focused on:
- Dynamic and intuitive displays of data, delivered as: Interactive online mapping of the database (which can be filtered and sorted by many factors and presented as individual heatmap HTML files, for use as a visual aid);
- Master database in Excel;
- Interactive dashboard (a visual display of the most important project information arranged on a user-friendly single screen); and
- A top line report explaining the methodology and high level results, graphics and insights with further commentary, tables and detail in appendices.
(Project completed in May 2022)