Press release 9 March 2016 VisitNorwich destination guide set to draw more visitors to the City of Stories using its new destination brand as it launches during English Tourism Week VisitNorwich’s annual visitor guide ‐ Norwich, Norfolk Broads and Countryside ‐ is launching during English Tourism Week as it heads for Tourist Information Centres around the country, showcasing the city to potential visitors and boosting regional tourism featuring the new City of Stories destination branding. Nick Bond, Head of Tourism at VisitNorwich said: “The Norwich, Norfolk Broads and Countryside guide is our opportunity to position Norwich as a vibrant city with easy connections to the market towns, Broads National Park and coastline. “The destination guide is our first use of the new City of Stories branding. The style and design of the brochure builds on the success and engagement of the ‘Norwich, the City of Stories’ campaign which first launched as an identity for the city in 2014. As England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, ‘Norwich, the City of Stories’ differentiates the city from other destinations; Norwich has an extraordinarily good set of stories to tell – it informs those who are not familiar with the city and allows us to challenge the perceptions of those who think they know it.” Norwich, Norfolk Broads and Countryside is a free, insider’s guide to the city and beyond, packed full of recommendations for getting the most from a visit to our region. Foodies, families, festival‐goers, culture and history buffs and everyone in between will find ideas and advice on ways to enjoy the county’s many and varied highlights. VisitNorwich has commissioned print of 35,000 guides for distribution at Tourist Information Centres nationwide, to highlight the Norwich area as a must‐visit destination. The guide covers everything from selecting accommodation and visiting the top attractions to experiencing the Broads and countryside, enjoying the food, drink and retail offering and exploring the vast programme of year‐round entertainment. English Tourism Week is an annual seven day celebration of events highlighting the breadth of quality and vibrant experiences enjoyed by visitors in England. The week is the perfect platform to shout about what’s new in tourism and big attractor events in 2016. English tourism is the third largest employer in the country, every day supporting 2.6 million jobs. It’s worth £106bn a year to England supporting thousands of businesses, impacting on the performance of supplier industries including farming, transport, retailing, sport, museums and galleries, performing arts and creative industries (source: VisitEngland). Tourism in Norwich in 2014 experienced an increase of 1% in overnight trips against 2013; however bed nights were up 10% and expenditure up 14%. Overall in 2014, British residents took 92.6 million overnight trips in England, totalling 273 million nights away from home, with expenditure of £18.1 billion. The number of domestic trips in England was 9% lower than in 2013, thus highlighting how well tourism in Norwich performed against this (source: Economic Impact of Tourism, Norwich 2014). <ends> For more information and images please contact Melanie Cook, Public Relations Manager, VisitNorwich on 01603 727939 or [email protected] . About VisitNorwich •
VisitNorwich is the destination management organisation for the Norwich area. It is a private/public sector partnership and a not for profit organisation whose sole focus is to promote and develop the destination and support its members through collaborative marketing, research, information and business advice. •
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For the benefit of the area as a whole, VisitNorwich strives to achieve: better profile and reputation locally, nationally and internationally; increased visitor spend; more investment; more jobs and better quality experiences for both visitors and residents. Tourism is worth around £700 million per year to the Norwich area and supports over 12,000 jobs (Economic Impact of Tourism, Norwich ‐ 2014). In 2014 VisitNorwich‐ funded by the Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) ‐ launched Norwich, the City of Stories a digital campaign which reached finalist status in the EDP Norfolk Tourism Awards 2015, www.cityofstories.co.uk. In 2014 Norwich was named as one of Britain’s Top 10 cities in The Telegraph Travel Awards. •
In 2014 The Norwich Lanes was crowned Great British High Street of the Year in the city category. •
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts was one of the six finalists for the prestigious Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014. •
In 2012 Norwich became England’s first UNESCO City of Literature and the sixth in the world joining other great cities; Edinburgh, Dublin, Melbourne, Iowa City and Reykjavik. This accolade is a permanent status. • Norwich was placed 6th in volume of tourism day visits in England in 2011 (after London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool) and ahead of popular destinations like York, Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield and Chester. 17 million day visitors spent over £1/2 billion in 2011. Data from the 2011 Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS 2011). • Norwich was in the top 10 of UK places to shop (Venuescore 2011‐12, The Javelin Group), having also been previously ranked 9th in the Experian Goad retail index and 8th on the CACI index. The outstanding quality and diversity of the city’s retail offer presents a major draw for visitors to the Norwich area. • VisitNorwich Ltd is a company limited by guarantee, a private/public sector partnership and a membership organisation representing the interests of a broad range of businesses across the visitor economy. Its principal public sector stakeholders are Norwich City Council and South Norfolk Council. • VisitNorwich has been operational from 1st April 2005 For further information on Norwich and its surrounding area visit www.visitnorwich.co.uk, www.cityofstories.co.uk