Visit Britain - Heritage and Cultural Tourism Business Forum

HERITAGE & CULTURAL TOURISM BUSINESS FORUM
Practical solutions for growing markets

9.30 - 5.00 on Tuesday, 8th July 2008
Royal Society of Arts, The Strand, London, WC2N 6EZ

Delegate fee: just £75 (+ VAT) per person including lunch - BOOK NOW!

Come along to this special one day VisitBritain Business Forum for some practical ideas to help you find new ways to promote your organisation and develop imaginative packages and services for the growing heritage and cultural tourism markets.

Who is the event for?

Any one working in heritage & cultural tourism, from incoming and specialist tour operators, galleries, stately homes, museums, theatres & performing arts venues and companies, arts festivals, creative industries, heritage attractions, regional development agencies, tourist boards, destination management organisations, cultural consortia and hotels.

Why should you attend?

We're building on the success of VisitBritain's Cultural Tourism event last year. This year we're also catering for the heritage sector and adding a series of practical workshops that will help delegates move from recognising the huge potential of cultural and heritage tourism to actually being able to capitalise and benefit from it. This is an ideal opportunity to:

- find out the results of the latest research,
- discover which market segments (domestic and overseas) have most potential for your product,
- know what the latest trends mean for you in terms of developing new experiences and marketing packages,
- find out how VisitBritain is marketing this sector - now and in the coming years
- find how you can benefit from the Cultural Olympiad

You'll leave the event with some new ideas and angles for your organisation, fired up with enthusiasm for this fast-growing market. Don't delay - book now!

The practical programme includes:

09.30	Registration
10.00	Welcome and introduction Chair for the day - Sandie Dawe, Strategy and Communications Director, VisitBritain
10.20	VisitBritain Update Tom Wright
10.40	Overview of current and planned VisitBritain domestic cultural campaigns and recent research findings Laurence Bresh, General Manager England Marketing, VisitBritain
11.15	Coffee break
11.30	Promoting your product to international markets - how VisitBritain promotes online, offline and through the media. What stories and products sell best? Justin Reid - Website Manager - Content and Support, VisitBritain Colin Simmonds - General Manager, Commercial Operations, VisitBritain Patricia Yates - Head of Press and PR, VisitBritain
12.30	Networking lunch
13.30	Snapshot of current trends, product gaps, potential markets and how you might benefit. Practical workshop session: Which trends are most relevant to your organisation? What product development or packages could you use to capitalise on these trends? What angles could you use to pitch your new product ideas to newly identified target markets? What are the key messages?
14.45	Afternoon tea
15.00	*Cultural Olympiad - panel discussion and Q & A*
15.45	Working with intermediaries such as incoming and specialist tour operators Stephen Dowd - Chief Executive, UKInbound US specialist tour operator
16.20	Q & A and Summary
17.00	Close

Please note some aspects of this programme may be subject to change.