North West does well as VisitEngland announces 15 top tier Local Visitor Economy Partnerships

VisitEngland has today announced 12 destinations to gain Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status, with all but one part of the North West to have a marketing office achieving this new coveted status. 

The successful areas are: Marketing Cheshire, Marketing Manchester, Liverpool City Region, and Cumbria Tourism all achieved the status in the North West. The neighbouring Peak District organisation was also successful.

Only Lancashire isn’t covered, but they have been assured there is “no detriment” to them for not being selected this time.

Rachel McQueen, chief executive of Marketing Lancashire told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We have worked closely with Visit England throughout the development of the LVEP accreditation process, influencing both the approach and the criteria. The initial tranche of applications had to be delivered on a very short timescale, driven by DCMS, and there was just no way to get every eligible DMO accredited in the first round. Visit England has confirmed there is no detriment to those organisations not yet accredited, or indeed any ‘favoured status’ for those accredited first.

“We have submitted our expression of interest and remain part of the process. We expect the next round of applications to open in the next few weeks.”

Lancashire felt slighted during the pandemic and the key resort of Blackpool issued desperate please for support.

Developed and administered by VisitEngland, the top tier LVEPs are committed to supporting  collaborative working locally and nationally on shared priorities and targets to grow the local visitor economy, and will be expecting leadership and regional support from the Cumbria to the North and the big city tourist hot spots of Liverpool and Manchester. 

Sheona Southern, managing director at Marketing Manchester, said her work extended beyond the city-region itself, but also for Manchester as the gateway to the north of England, and for overall global perceptions of UK cities.

“Our organisation incorporates the official tourist board for Greater Manchester, as well as the Manchester Convention Bureau, whilst also delivering promotion focused on priority business sectors and campaigns including digital, innovation, and green.

“I look forward to continuing our close partnership with VisitEngland to support collaborative working locally and nationally on shared priorities to grow Greater Manchester’s visitor economy.”

The government is acting on the recommendations of former Conservative MP Nick de Bois’s 2021 report which was highly critical of local destination marketing organisations (DMOs) saying they were of variable quality, were underfunded and spent too much time recruiting members, rather than building a brand for the destination.

He called for a top tier of destination marketing offices to get funding from Government, to be called Tourist Boards again, and to cut off DMOs from government engagement in a third tier of local tourism entirely.

However, he stopped short of calling for a return to the past model of Regional Tourist Boards, citing the success of Manchester and Liverpool as powerful brands in their own right, “capable of packing the kind of punch I would like to see from the top tier,” the report said. 

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “VisitEngland is delighted to welcome the new LVEPs onto the programme, who will play a central role in transforming the visitor economy in England in an inclusive, accessible and sustainable way. Ensuring we have the right national and local infrastructure in place to grow our visitor economy will ensure England continues to be a compelling destination, for both domestic and international visitors, for years to come.

“We look forward to working in collaboration with the LVEPs, providing ongoing support including a team of dedicated VisitEngland regional development leads. LVEPs will also have access to resources and guidance from VisitBritain/VisitEngland in areas including product distribution, business support, bidding for funding and marketing.”

VisitEngland piloted LVEPs in three areas with the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Visit County Durham and Visit Northumberland, earlier this year. 

VisitEngland says it has worked in close consultation with DMOs to develop the LVEP programme, holding a series of roundtables across England in autumn 2022 with more than 100 participants.