8. What happening in the region including Bath and Bristol with Head of Tourism Kathryn Davis – Visit West

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In today’s episode, I chat with Kathryn Davis, Director of Tourism, Visit West and non-Exec Board member of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and UKinbound.

Kathryn is a fount of all knowledge when it comes to tourism, leisure and hospitality in the west, having worked in the industry for more than 25 years. In 2018, Kathryn was presented with the award for Outstanding Achievement in Tourism at the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards.

In our chat, Kathryn shares how the Destination Marketing Organisations, Bath Tourism Plus and Destination Bristol were amalgamated to form Visit West and how it works today. She talks about some of the benefits of bringing the two cities together along with North and North East Somerset, and how the work they are doing is proving so popular that they are seeing a record intake of businesses joining their membership.
We talk about marketing and the forthcoming VisitEngland grant funded campaign 'Escape the Everyday', along with the growth in interest in the digital platforms that promote the region, with Visit Bristol seeing around 3.7 million visitors to the site each year.

We also discuss:

• How COVID has created a culture of last minute bookings in the conference, meetings and events arena and the recovery of international visitors;
• How we need to reframe the way in which we talk about careers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Enjoy the episode!

Find out more
If you’re interested in learning more about Visit West, then head to www.visitwest.co.uk.

To connect with Kathryn, you can find her on:

• Twitter: twitter.com/kathryn_tourism
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kathryndavisbristol

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.
Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.
Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.
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