Visit Essex wants you to help shape the county as a go-to destination

12th January 2024

The survey will help shape the county as the place to visit, live and work.

Visit Essex, the county’s tourism organisation, is calling for residents, businesses and stakeholders to provide feedback about Essex by completing a new online survey. The research will be used to help create a new destination management plan for the county. 

Participants will answer questions, including which Essex-based attractions they think best represent the county, how Visit Essex can improve the tourism economy and which areas of tourism require investment. The feedback will be used to inform Visit Essex’s new destination management plan, plus their strategy and vision for the future of tourism in Essex. 

Councillor Mark Durham, Chair, Visit Essex, said: “At Visit Essex, we’re never complacent; although Essex is home to an outstanding 350-mile coastline and offers a wide range of attractions, plus great places to stay and eat, we constantly want to develop our county. We want to find out which attractions residents think make Essex. We want to know how we can help businesses, what support they need and what their goals are. We want to see what stakeholders need and how they think we can help shape their vision of Essex.”

He continued: “Our aim is to make Essex a great place to visit, live and work, and that’s what we want to achieve, starting with our new destination management plan.”

To help develop the new plan, Visit Essex has appointed Tomorrow Tourism Ltd. The organisation will help carry out the survey and support Visit Essex to review feedback. The agency, together with the county’s tourism organisation, will create the new plan. 

Richard Dickinson, Tomorrow Tourism Ltd, said: “Tomorrow’s Tourism is delighted to have been commissioned to develop the Destination Management Plan for Visit Essex and Essex County Council. Visit Essex’s recent achievement of Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation signifies a significant milestone for this important destination. Our focus will be to develop an aligned and innovative plan that drives forward the success of Essex as a destination.”

The survey is live now and runs until 24 January 2024. Visit Essex and Tomorrow Tourism Ltd will review feedback and use it to develop the county’s new Destination Management Plan.

To take part in the survey, visit this link. 

ENDS
Notes to Editor:
VISIT ESSEX
Visit Essex is the official tourism organisation and the only body specifically marketing the whole of the county to the visitor market. We work with visitor attractions, leisure/activity providers, accommodation establishments and other tourism related businesses (including the travel trade, media and wider partners), to ensure that the county remains a leading visitor destination.

Our work encompasses major marketing campaigns, high profile PR work, business support, and the management and promotion of the official Visit Essex brand. Visit Essex will ensure that the county gets the recognition it deserves as a desirable place to visit in the 21st century. We will work closely with partners to develop a sustainable tourism offering for the future, identify new markets and harness visitors at the county's major gateways of Stansted, Harwich, Southend and Tilbury.

For further information:
Hilary Collins, Big Wave PR, hilary@wearebigwavepr.co.uk, or call 01206 231807.