Interreg Experience - Peer Networks

In light of the current Covid-19 crisis, the tourism, leisure and hospitality industry is having to re-think how to move forward and rebuild business, demand and revenue. Many organisations, both nationally and locally will be forced to re-examine business operations and products, in order to adhere to social distancing measures and respond to changing consumer behaviour. To survive, businesses will need to adapt existing products, collaborate with others in and out of the sector, and reach out to new audiences to recover and drive business growth. The sector has also been shown to be particularly vulnerable due to the seasonality of the visitor economy demonstrating the need for development of off-season product to make businesses more resilient in the future and to deliver more year-round jobs.

As part of the Interreg Channel EXPERIENCE project, Visit Kent has launched the Experience Development Programme which will work with 125 organisations from across Kent and Medway to help them develop new experiential tourism products for the off-season. We have received over 70 applications for the first round of the programme from a range of businesses including traditional tourism businesses, individuals with a skill they'd like to turn into a new business and businesses from other sectors looking to diversify. Applications are still open for the second round of the programme until the end of December 2020 and will be informed if they have been approved by the end of January 2021.

The programme offers successful applicants a package of support to develop their product concept and take it to market. The support delivered through the programme includes 1:1 business consultation, product testing, content development, product photography, inclusion in B2C campaigns and B2B distribution through travel trade partners.

Following successful award of the 1:1 business consultation contract, Visit Kent are looking for a provider to deliver the next stage of the programme - the development and initial roll out of a peer networking framework. The framework will provide a basis for the Experience programme participants to meet regularly to share best practice, build relationships with their Visit Kent Account Managers, continue to gain support on various professional areas as well as developing local relationships with other businesses. The framework will provide the Visit Kent team with the tools and training to deliver the peer networking effectively and efficiently meetings themselves within existing resource, supporting the long-term community objectives of the Experience programme in a sustainable manner.