From the Chairman

www.exmoortourismpartnership.org.uk

The 2012 Exmoor Tourism

Conference takes place on the 28

November from 10am to 4pm at

Halsway Manor in the Quantock

Hills.

Highlights of the day will be hearing

from Kevin Redpath on New Media

and James Crowden about Literary

Somerset (see back page). The day

will also include workshops and

news round shorts that are sure to

give you lots of tips, ideas and help

in converting potential customers.

Lovely Halsway Manor located

within the Quantock Hills Area of

Outstanding Natural Beauty is our

host for this year, and we do hope

that you will take advantage of

visiting this 'extension' to the

stunning landscapes of Exmoor. We

will be allowing plenty of time for

networking with industry colleagues

both old and new.

Book early to avoid

disappointment by downloading

a form from the ETP website.

Another year has passed and, despite

the continuing challenge of the

economic climate and even bigger

challenges from our natural climate,

the tourism sector in our area has

continued to make significant strides.

In 2012, your Tourism Partnership was

further strengthened with new core

partners Somerset County Council

and North Devon+, and associate

members Quantock Hills AONB and

Somerset Tourism Association, its

Chairman Bob Smart being a welcome

contributor to our quarterly meetings.

Our meetings are short, focussed and

collaborative: how can we best use our

combined resources? There is no time

for protectionism or politics. Every

partner is focussed on the health of

the tourism sector and making it

strong and self-supporting going

forward. Long may it continue! Some

highlights since our last newsletter

The industry is now managing the

Visit Exmoor and Visit Somerset web-

sites

Exmoor Tourist Association com-

pleted a robust business plan, essential

to satisfy investors and attract and re-

tain members

The Walking Festival ran without

heavy subsidy, working to a clear finan-

cial plan

West Somerset Council has ap-

pointed Rob Downes as its Tourism

Officer and is working closely with

partners to gain maximum benefit from

any Hinkley Point planning gain

Exmoor National Park Authority

has granted a further £45.5k from its

discretionary budget towards fulfilling

years two and three of our three

year marketing plan

We are strengthening skills in the

tourism industry, mindful that we are

in it for the long haul and local au-

thority funding cannot be guaranteed

North Devon+ has been tremen-

dously supportive with numerous

training seminars to improve skills,

employee culture and the pursuit of

excellence and a forum for people to

swap ideas.

We have a superb marketing group,

with members from key local

enterprises – the small sums of

money available to our partners goes

so much further when marketing is a

collaborative venture, with no

duplication of effort. Digital

marketing and social media are taking

an ever higher profile and I for one

am pleased that we have the com-

bined support of some of the best

marketing and PR brains in the SW.

Clearly, tourism continues to make a

vital contribution to the wider

economy of Greater Exmoor. ETP

will do everything it can to ensure

tourism’s pivotal role in the area’s

economic health is given due

recognition, both locally and nation-

ally. I very much look forward to

seeing you at our November confer-

ence.

Evelyn Stacey, Chairman

Exmoor Tourism Partnership

Exmoor Touir Tourism Conference

2012 update

Heaven’s Above

At the end of last year Exmoor Na-

tional Park Authority’s bid for Ex-

moor to be designated the first Dark

Sky Reserve in Europe was an-

nounced as successful.

Since then tremendous press cover-

age has been achieved in most na-

tional papers, a

range of maga-

zines and a live

screening from

Dulverton on the

popular BBC Star-

gazing Live pro-

gramme with Prof.

Brian Cox.

Dark Sky Reserve Pocket Guides are

available from the National Park Au-

thority to help your guests explore

the heavens above.

European shows, and an online

version of the guide.

Find out more by visiting www.exmoortourismpartnership.org.uk.

Stunning New Guide Around

The Corner The 2013 version of the highly

praised Exmoor, the Coast and

Quantock Hills visitor guide is set to

hit shelves this December. If you

would like to book advertising space

in this years guide call us on 01271

336 037 before the deadline of 31

October 2012.

Pre-VAT advertising prices have been

held at the same rates as the past

two years, and with a full programme

of marketing activity planned

throughout 2013, entry in the guide

offers excellent value in promoting

your business to tens of thousands of

potential visitors.

Next year’s accompanying marketing

plan will include national PR and

distribution, regional and national

advertising campaigns, e-marketing,

promotion at national and

Mobile sites are designed to be

quick and fit neatly on a mobile de-

vice screen without the need to

zoom or scroll sideways.

The VE website stats already show

that 19.5% of visitors are viewing

the current site on mobile devices.

At the moment their experience will

not be brilliant as they will have to

scroll and zoom to see the content.

This figure has grown rapidly in the

last 3 months from about 10%, so

there is clearly a need for this mo-

bile site as more people get

smartphones.

This new mobile site, coupled with

visit-exmoor will make our site even

more attractive to advertisers as it

becomes more accessible. One of

the main strengths of being part of a

main tourism destination site is that

search engines see this site as very

important. This means we enjoy

good listing positions for our

keywords. But a less obvious major

advantage is the link from the VE

site to yours. This is a powerful

relevant inward link to your site,

boosting your own sites positioning

on search engines. As we know,

getting relevant inward links to our

tourism accommodation websites is

a nightmare, so links from major

local sites are very effective.

Visit-Exmoor Web Update &

New Mobile Site The Visit Exmoor website

(www.visit-exmoor.co.uk) is

performing well, getting about 8000

visitors each month who stay on the

site for over 3.5 minutes each. 25% of

these visitors return to find out more

information. Looking at the way they

go through the site, the Where to

Stay section is the most visited,

followed by the Must See and Do

pages.

The new Exmoor TV advert caused a

noticeable peak in visits to the site

and the Exmoor Guinea has also

generated interest. Like the Groat

before it, it produced a lot of free

publicity for the area including articles

in two national papers, and we have

had a few reports of it bringing in

business.

We are now building a new mobile

website for Visit Exmoor, funded

through Western Somerset Local

Action for Rural Communities

(LARC) scheme, West Somerset

Council, Exmoor Tourist Association

and Exmoor National Park Authority.

This new site will reflect the standard

VE website showing all the

accommodation providers, events

and things to do through searches.

Good management needs good re-

search and monitoring. Over the

years we’ve collected some good

quality data on why people come,

what they like, dislike and what they

do when they're here. Now, for the

first time we have some up to date

information on why people don’t

visit, thanks to research conducted

by the University of Exeter with the

Exmoor National Park Authority.

89% of respondents had heard of

the area and nearly 50% of non-

visitors had no particular reason for

not visiting before. Several of Ex-

moor’s selling points were rated as

‘strongly desirable’ or ‘desirable’ by

over 70% of respondents (such as

being a ‘haven for wildlife’; offering

‘plenty of opportunities to relax and

unwind’; hosting the ‘highest coastal

cliffs in the country’; being Europe’s

first ever ‘International Dark Sky

Reserve’ and containing a ‘wealth of

history and heritage’). The full re-

port can be downloaded from the

Community section of the Exmoor

National Park Authority website.

Non-Visitor Research

In 2012 for the first time we

ventured overseas and represented

Exmoor at Vakantiebeurs which is a

very large travel show in Utrecht.

Interestingly we heard from many of

the visitors to the stand that they

were not visiting the UK in 2012

“Prices will be very expensive and

travel will be very difficult because of

the Olympics.” Nevertheless we

sincerely believe the loyalty to the

Exmoor brand is as strong as ever.

All this costs money so if you have

£500 to spare, or more if you are

sufficiently affluent, we would be de-

lighted to hear from you just contact

Antony Brunt, Chairman of the

Exmoor Tourist Association

chairman@exmoor.com.

Exhibiting Exmoor

Many of us predicted an unusual

trading pattern this year and we were

not disappointed.

This put greater need than ever to get

out and promote Exmoor at the

major UK travel fairs. We have

attended, the Visit Britain Show

(BOBI) at the NEC, Great Days Out

Show in Manchester, Group Leisure

and Travel Show at the NEC, and are

shortly to exhibit at the Excursions

Show in London.

We have also kept up the promotion

on a more local level with stands at

the North Somerset Show and the

Taunton Flower Show.

Exmoor Strategy & Charter

Work has begun on producing a new

strategy and 5 year action plan for

tourism on Exmoor incorporating

the work of different ETP partners

and others in the area. The revised

strategy and action plan will form

part of the National Park Authority’s

revalidation of the European Charter

for Sustainable Tourism in protected

areas. Exmoor was one of the first

National Parks in the country to re-

ceive this prestigious award in 2007

and is one of over 100 charter hold-

ers across Europe demonstrating

that conservation and tourism can

work hand in hand for mutual

benefit.

Active Exmoor

Exmoor continues to attract and

successfully host a range of active

events including cycle sportives,

mountain biking trials, the

Perambulation (Exmoor’s longest

walk in a day), triathalons, fell run-

ning and much more. The Ironman,

hosted by South West Lakes Trust at

Wimbleball had a record entrance of

over 2,000 competitors and this is

estimated to be worth over

£750,000 to the area in spend plus

additional benefits in PR and

promotion.

The annual Walking Festival runs this

year from the 26 April to 5 May

2013 and is being supported by

Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth,

Porlock and Dunster—all of which

have gained ‘Walkers are Welcome’

accreditation.

Exmoor Brand A new brand has been launched to

promote all things to do with

Exmoor tourism whether on the

Coast, Quantock Hills or National

Park.

There are different versions available

promoting the distinct regions that

make up the Exmoor brand. There

are versions for businesses and

organisations to download too from

the Exmoor Tourism Partnership

website along with brand guidelines.

The new brand does not replace

things like the National Park or

Quantock Hill AONB logos which

remain as the identities for these

areas as well as the bodies that are

responsible for them. Rather the new

brand will comfortably sit alongside

these where appropriate providing a

co-ordinated and unified approach to

marketing this diverse area. The

brand includes the logo which

incorporates a stag in the colour of

Exmoor’s famous heather and the tag

line ‘Dream, Discover, Explore’ which

identifies the key qualities we have to

offer potential visitors.

Do make use of the new brand—

there are suggestions for copy and

images in the brand guidelines, to

promote your part in Exmoor’s

tourism offer.

Business Support Two new schemes are offering

business support to businesses in

North Devon and Western Somerset.

The ‘Collaborative Business

Enterprise’ is a free Business

Mentoring service to businesses in

Western Somerset, delivered by ex-

perienced business owners and pro-

fessionals volunteering their time to

support local businesses.

In North Devon the ‘Business

Buddies’ scheme provides a similar

service with 20 highly experienced

volunteer Mentors.

These schemes are open to people

ready to launch their business and

established businesses employing less

than 10 people. The Business

Mentors are all qualified and accred-

ited mentors, and are experienced

business owners who have run and

grown their own businesses, or

people with specialist knowledge who

have operated at a senior level in

larger companies. They provide an

independent view of your business,

helping you to identify and address

key issues and exploit opportunities

to grow your business.

To find out more contact

Philip.sharratt@kjelgaard.co.uk or

mchapman@northdevonplus.co.uk

If you have experience of successfully

growing your business and would be

interested in giving your time

voluntarily to assist fledgling compa-

nies in the area, the project teams

would also be interested in hearing

from you.

Banner ads can now be displayed on

the Visit Exmoor website providing

you with a more prominent display

listing on the site.

Prices start from as little as £8.50/

month with discounts of up to 25%

off for bookings of 2 or more

adverts.

Adverts can be static or animated

and a cost effective design service is

available if enquired. For more

information visit the Advertise with

us page linked at the bottom of the

Visit Exmoor website.

Banner Ads Now Available

The Exmoor Tourist Association is

looking for an Honorary Treasurer

to oversee the finances of the

organisation. The Treasurers role

would involve assisting the secretary

in managing the finances and

preparing the accounts for auditing.

A formal accounting background isn’t

needed but a good knowledge of

figures and spread sheets is required.

Anyone interested in this voluntary

role should contact Sharon Routley,

Secretary of the Exmoor Tourist

Association by email at

secretary@exmoor.com.

Treasurer Needed

Marketing Exmoor The Exmoor Tourism Partnership

has been working hard to continue

to promote the area as a first class

destination in order to support the

tourism sector.

Highlights in the last year include:

Regional and national marketing

campaigns comprising prize

draws, adverts in national maga-

zines and specialised web content

targeted at walkers, families and

stargazers (building on last years

designation of Exmoor as

Europe’s first International Dark

Sky Reserve)

Development of a mobile version

of the new Visit Exmoor website

to be launched soon

The launch of a new brand iden-

tity for Exmoor tourism to pro-

vide a consistent and strong

brand message to visitors who

are encouraged to visit Exmoor

to ‘Dream, Discover, Explore’

Successful PR work through Star-

fish PR resulting in numerous na-

tional and specialist travel press

articles, journalist visits and devel-

opment of social media channels

The launch of the area’s first TV

advert, viewed by over 3m

(against a target of 2m viewers)

with over 2,000 You Tube views

in the first week. Locally the

advert met with mixed responses,

from the love it to hate it. The

point being it caused a reaction

and people noticed—as evidenced

in a noticeable peak in visitors to

the website.

Attendance at a range of travel

shows for the trade and consum-

ers including the first visit to an

international show at Utrecht in

the spring

Production and distribution of the

Exmoor brochure.

The work has been achieved through

the continued collaboration of key

players working to support the

tourism sector across Exmoor

including the Exmoor Tourist

Association, Exmoor National Park

Authority, West Somerset Council,

North Devon+, Quantock Hills

AONB and Somerset County

Council with financial support from

the ENPA Partnership Fund, Industry

contributions and partner support.

North Devon+ Supporting

Exmoor Exmoor tourism will receive a boost

next year when The North Devon

and Exmoor Guide marketing

campaign starts in January. The

campaign, by North Devon+,

incorporates advertising in national

media alongside a partnership

campaign with Visit England to

promote coast and countryside.

70,000 copies of the 132 page

magazine are being printed. The

2013 Guide is also being produced as

a mobile website for the iPad, which

literally ‘brings content and adverts

to life’ delivering customer enquiries

direct to the advertisers website.

The 2013 guide has a bumper 16

page Exmoor section compiled for

North Devon+ by Naomi Cudmore,

of the Exmoor Magazine. Look out

for copies on display at leading

attractions and Tourist Information

Centres across Exmoor and North

Devon from January, or order your

copy online from

www.northdevon.com.

West Somerset Council have recently launched the Minehead Town Guide

App to help promote Minehead businesses, as part of a series of initiatives lead

by the Minehead Visioning Group to help make Minehead more vibrant.

The App is a business directory with a tourism aspect to it to promote Mine-

head to town visitors and increase public awareness. The App incorporates

Town Trails with geo-accurate maps so that when you walk around, points of

interest pop up with the information.

The App includes an A-Z, About, Minehead Folklore, Who's

Who, Services, Food & Leisure, Maps, Travel & Accommodation

so it's a really useful source of information. Check it out using the

QR code (Android and I-phones only currently).

Minehead Town Guide App

The Exmoor Tourism Partnership

appoints professional PR services to

help promote Exmoor, its offering

and events, to national travel

journalists and publications. A good

story is always needed—we know

Exmoor is beautiful but that won’t

get published. Instead we need up to

date information on events, new

developments and quirky news that

can publicise Exmoor widely. In

most cases at least 3 months notice

is required for events etc so feed in

your stories—see the PR page in the

marketing section of the ETP web-

site for contact details. A regular

blog is also written on the Visit

Exmoor website. Why not link to it

on your site, or circulate the link to

guests for all the latest goings on!

PR For You

A successful bid for £135,000 of EU

Interreg funding has been made by a

partnership including Somerset

County Council, West Somerset

and Sedgemoor District Councils

and the Exmoor National Park

Authority.

The cool tourism project will work

with other partners in the South of

England and across the channel in

France to develop new technologies

in marketing and explore how busi-

nesses can better work together for

mutual benefits to the visitor

economy. Further details to follow

soon.

Cool Funding News

Somerset Links with Exmoor A message from Bob Smart,

Chairman of the Somerset Tourist

Association.

Promoting your business is all about

effective networking, and making

sure that everyone is pulling in the

same direction. As Chairman of the

Somerset Tourism Association I’m

delighted to say that we’ve accepted

an invitation to join the Exmoor

Tourism Partnership. We will be

working closely with the existing

ETP members to help your business.

In marketing terms there are two big

brand names in Somerset: Exmoor

and Somerset itself. The STA is to

the historic County of Somerset

(which includes North Somerset and

Bath and N E Somerset), what the

ETP is to Exmoor. We’re a

Community Interest Company, with

over 400 member businesses. We

work with all the local authorities.

We run the County’s tourism

website (www.visitsomerset.co.uk)

and produce the Somerset – Jewel of

the South West brochure, as well as

doing all sorts of other things to

promote the County.

We’d be delighted to have you as a

member, and delighted if you can

come along to our annual Confer-

ence (coincidently one day after the

ETP Conference) at Haynes

International Motor Museum on

Thursday 29 November, with buffet

lunch and an afternoon session. You

can get more information from the

website, as above, or by contacting

me direct on 01749 835416 or

bob@visitsomerset.co.uk. We look

forward to working with you!

West Somerset Council, allocations for 3 of the Districts

Tourism Information Offices and funds to be utilised for

research, marketing and promotion. The Section 106

requires that a Tourism Action Partnership (TAP) is set up

comprised of West Somerset Council, Sedgemoor DC and

Somerset CC. It is the intention to also include

representation from Exmoor National Park Authority and

tourism businesses on the TAP. We were delighted to

recruit Robert Downes to the post of Tourism Officer for

West Somerset. He has hardly had the chance to pause for

breath since he started in May, and has really got stuck in to

delivering the diverse range of tourism development and

destination management.

Hinkley Point C Development The examination process for the planning application for the

construction of two new nuclear reactors in West Somerset

has now been completed. The Planning Inspectorate

will submit their findings to the Secretary of State by the end

of this year, and the Secretary of State will make his decision

on whether or not to award consent in Spring 2013.

The Local Authorities have negotiated two Section 106

Agreements with EDF, with funds towards tourism

mitigation contained in both.

Funds will be released at various trigger points throughout

the next 6 years and this includes a tourism officer post for

The Exmoor Tourism Partnership is a ‘virtual’ partnership. The role of the Partnership is to enhance the quality of the visitor

experience, to improve the viability, sustainability and performance of tourism enterprises and to develop, promote and champion

the Exmoor and West Somerset brand in appropriate markets.

Core Partners: Exmoor Tourist Association ● West Somerset Council ● Exmoor National Park Authority

North Devon+ ● Somerset County Council. Key Organisations: Quantock Hills AONB ● Somerset Tourism Association.

Exmoor Tourism Network: Minehead Hoteliers ● Lyn Association for Commerce and Tourism ● Porlock Tourist Association

● Combe Martin Tourist Association ● Exmoor Holiday Group ● South Molton Tourism Association ● WACET

Exmoor to Sea

www.exmoortourismpartnership.org.uk

Going Local to Enhance the Visitor Experience Using literary connections and local produce to attract

visitors will be at the heart of a keynote speech at this

year’s Exmoor Tourism Conference on 28 November by

local author, poet and broadcaster, James Crowden.

Star of the award nominated BBC Radio 3 programme,

Out Counting Sheep, and author of Literary Somerset,

James will be sharing his passion for the local landscape and

its heritage, as part of the annual tourism event organised

by the Exmoor Tourism Partnership. James said:

"Exmoor and West Somerset are laden with wonderful

literary associations, and their importance is often

underestimated by local businesses. The secret is to use

these intriguing connections to make small literary tailor-

made tours for your guests as a new and exciting way of

promoting this beautiful area. Combine that with excellent

local food and drink and you generate an irresistible desire

to explore the area which will keep bringing visitors back

time and again."

James Crowden has lived in Somerset for over 25 years and

was a sheep shearer, shepherd, cider maker and

backwoodsman before turning to writing and poetry. See

the front cover for booking details.

Why not join the 700 who are already following us on twitter @visitexmoor?

In just ten months Visit Exmoor’s twitter page has been joined by a community

of people, businesses and groups seeking to share information and help spread

the word about what’s new and great in Exmoor.

Tweeting for Exmoor!