Berwick 'Welcome Visitor' Project

PURPOSE To develop a 'brand' for Berwick-upon-Tweed, establishing the town as a 'visitor destination' and to support wider economic development and regeneration ambitions.

BACKGROUND The Berwick 'Welcome Visitor' project aims to establish Berwick as a 'you must go there' visitor destination, increase visitor footfall, encourage extended visitor stay and extend the current visitor season to ensure that Berwick gains the maximum economic return from tourism and visitor markets.

The project is a portfolio package of mutually supportive measures which will, collectively, help to redefine the town's visitor offer, promote new visitor product developments, enhance the town's current events programme and refresh visitor hospitality enabling Berwick to deliver a high quality and memorable visitor experience.

The project will add to and develop the current events and activities programme in Berwick by creating a range of opportunities, events and products, developed by businesses and the local community, in celebration of Berwick's distinctive heritage, culture and environment. This will be achieved by working with and developing the tourism and associated business sectors. The project will promote training, skills development and attainment in the tourism and hospitality sectors and invest in visitor information provision.

The Berwick 'Welcomes Visitor' package includes:

Fresh Perceptions - The project will establish a Berwick destination management function and launch a new destination marketing approach with refreshed visitor information services, targeted advertising and campaigns to drive visitor numbers, footfall and spend to the town within the context of the wider strategic approach to Tourism marketing in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.

A refreshed events programme - The project will develop an extended visitor season through centrally co-ordinated product development / trails celebrating the town's character, distinctiveness and location.

Business development initiative - The project will deliver local training and skills attainment to support business and community enterprises to fully engage with and realise the economic benefits of the refreshed visitor economy.

Wayfinding and Signage - The project will contribute to the delivery of a refreshed and enhanced visitor wayfinding scheme which will re-orientate and improve the way visitors experience the town upon arrival, connecting key tourism sites and the retail heart of the town to public transport hubs including the Railway Station.

Branding Development - Recommendations should produce a simple and clear lead message which identifies and promotes the town's distinctive character. The development of a series of marketing and promotional guidelines, with recommendations for imagery, text stylisation, template copy, straplines etc, and a suite of refreshed marketing approaches should be developed utilising the promotional media identified.

Additional information: In shaping the Berwick 'brand' local partners will look to the appointed consultancy to understand and reflect the geographical position of the town at the English/Scottish border; surrounding regional attractions and markets across Northumberland and the Scottish Borders; and the town's history, heritage and cultural distinctiveness.

Recommendations should identify and reflect competition for visitors and identify opportunities for joint working approaches with organisations/attractions which would result in a net gain for the Berwick visitor economy.

Research and visitor survey work undertaken in 2017 identified that the region attracts a higher proportion of visitors from higher social grades (ABC1) than found in the general population. Recommendations from the 'branding' exercise should reflect this and seek to strengthen this market share.

Recommendations from the 'branding' exercise should produce a simple and clear lead message which identifies and promotes the town's distinctive character. The development of a series of marketing and promotional guidelines, with recommendations for imagery, text stylisation, template copy, straplines etc, and a suite of refreshed marketing approaches should be developed utilising the promotional media identified (and any new ones proposed).

Recommendations for a refreshed marketing regime should be developed jointly with 'end users', e.g local businesses, event managers, Visitberwick, and should identify a visitor friendly/appropriate structure and consider a range of themes including:

Places to Visit (Attractions)/Where to go Places to Stay (Accommodation)/Where to stay Places to Eat and Drink/What to do Places to Shop/What to do Things to Do (Events)/What's on.

Recommendations should also consider the development of future/new visitor markets and propose how the new branding and marketing approach will help to achieve this. Local partners have identified the overseas visitor market as having local growth potential, given the town's locus between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and look to develop approaches which will realise the economic value of the coach travel market.

The 'branding' exercise will be undertaken on behalf of a number of local partner organisations which form the Project Delivery Group (Steering Group) for the 'Welcome Visitor' proposal. Key partners are Berwick Community Trust (as Accountable Body), Berwick Town Council, Berwick Chamber of Trade, The Maltings Berwick Trust, Berwick Barracks Heritage Trust, Northumberland County Council, Northumberland Tourism. The 'branding' exercise project will be managed locally by Berwick Town Council.