Peak District tourism business workshops to push new marketing project

The £1.2million English National Park Experience Collection campaign is being developed for international audiences, telling the story of national parks through the unique experiences they offer and the people who look after them.

Sarah Fowler, chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority, said: “National parks in England are major contributors to the tourism economy, attracting more than 94million visitors each year and currently bringing in more than £4billion of visitor spending in the parks and surrounding areas. That is almost a quarter of all spending on rural tourism.

“Less than 10 per cent of visitors to our national parks are international. This programme will be instrumental in bringing in new audiences, growing the value of the international visitor to some of our deeply rural areas, and growing global support for the care and enjoyment of these iconic, quintessentially English landscapes. All of which will benefit our domestic visitors and rural economy.”

The first free business workshop will be at Chatsworth House on Wednesday, April 25, starting at 2pm.

It will be followed by two more on Thursday, April 26. The first will start at 10am at the Old Hall Hotel in The Square, Buxton. At 2pm, there will be a session at Losehill House Hotel and Spa in Hope Valley.

Each session will cover the background and context to the programme, provide some examples of the experiences being developed and the change required to deliver these on a global platform.

While initially the project will be targeting German and Australian visitors, the new products created would be available to all markets.

The Peak District National Park Authority worked with other English national parks to secure support from Visit England’s Discover England Fund.

The business support element of the programme is being supported by the expert knowledge and training of Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire.

Discover England spokesman Mark Holroyd said: “There are opportunities for tourism businesses to get involved, from activity companies and attractions to accommodation providers.

“A core part of the programme will help businesses to tell the compelling stories of our National Parks to new audiences.”

He added: “You can get involved in either leading or supporting one of the identified experiences. These open workshops are free to attend and we would encourage anyone wanting to find out more to come along.”

For more details, or to sign up for a workshop, contact [email protected] or call 01246 212924.

For more information about the English National Park Experience Collection, visit www.nationalparks.gov.uk/experiencecollection or watch the latest video from the programme team at https://youtu.be/60eMKQuxLSI.