The Lower Leas Coastal Park

General information

Tourism in Kent and Medway has never experienced the benefits of substantial national and regional government funding. As a result, Visit Kent formed in 2002, developed a collaborative approach in order to fund its operation and what has emerged is a public/private sector partnership supported by Kent County Council, Medway Council, the District and Borough Councils, and the leading private sector tourism businesses.

Kent is a geographically well defined area and research demonstrates that it is a clearly understood destination by its residents, its businesses and visitors with a strong sense of place and identity. It has a strong tourism product with rich heritage, areas of outstanding natural beauty, iconic chalk cliff coastline and blue flag beaches, quality local produce and a vibrant cultural and arts offer - recently augmented by the £21m Turner Contemporary and the £17m Marlowe Theatre.

There is a cohesive business base of varied and distinctive tourism interests including historic houses, attractions, accommodation providers, transport operators, catering suppliers and retail all working together within Visit Kent. In addition the industry has always enjoyed strong local political leadership and support. It is this shared identity and focus that helps Visit Kent to deliver an ambitious tourism strategy for the benefit of all.

Visit Kent has brought its local authorities and businesses together to bid successfully for many European funding programmes worth millions of Euros; to run innovative marketing campaigns and to drive forward major new initiatives such as the first Greeter programme in Europe and the popular Big Weekend showcasing our industry to local residents and gaining support from local Kent people as ambassadors.

We are currently trying to pilot a creative collaboration , more associated with the creative industries and works with businesses and local people to identify the values and attributes that reflect their destination. If businesses creatively collaborate, on the same broad ideas to develop the product and offer, then the actual visitor experiences will be more locally distinctive, have stronger appeal and be more joined up. We envisage this will be conducted through a series of industry workshops but are open to different methodologies and approaches. For more information about this opportunity and how you can get involved, please see our Proximity Phase 2 Brief.

Pooling resources, being creative, and collaborating with sustainable budgets, Visit Kent is enabling the tourism industry to punch above its weight - attending national and international trade exhibitions, launching eye-catching advertising campaigns, hosting journalists from around the world, delivering award winning digital solutions and adding our voice to national and international activities. Kent Contemporary - Visit Kent's London advertising campaign featuring stunning imagery of Kent on stations - above and below ground - has generated alone a Return on Investment of 86:1 worth and an additional £15 million to the local economy.

It is not all about marketing though as Visit Kent offers tourism businesses access to a sector-specific business to business support network. This includes free business advice from our Quality Programme team, subsidised training courses in both classroom and online formats, a monthly Business Barometer to track how the Kent tourism industry is performing and allow peer benchmarking, networking events and masterclasses, a B2B website with a range of information for existing and new businesses and much more.

Visit Kent takes a lead in the place making agenda for the county. Through discussions with key stakeholders it has developed across the sectors a brand strategy around "the Garden of England" proposition. It has influenced the recognition of tourism in key planning, regeneration and economic development strategies and takes a proactive role in securing hotel investment, supporting the growing cultural and leisure offer, getting improvements in infrastructure and signage management.

Visit Kent interacts at a regional and national level with VisitEngland and VisitBritain. It has won several awards for its work and has been acknowledged as one of the leading DMO's in England by Visit England. Its Chairman is Amanda Cottrell OBE. Sandra Matthews Marsh MBE, its Chief Executive, is also Chair of Tourism Society, a Family Holiday Assosciation Ambassador and is a regular speaker at national and regional conferences and events.

Visit Kent strives to be adaptable in its delivery and business model and has remained flexible in its response to changes in the market, within the sector it serves and to the wider tourism infrastructure.