Update from Sally Everton - Director
4th November 2019
Visit Devon’s Director, Sally Everton, has been busy driving promotion internationally and encouraging visitors to come to Devon.
In October Sally has been working on the following:
DOMESTIC
- Continuing with numerous meetings throughout the month with existing members and potential new members about the VisitDevon benefits and being involved
- Secure partnership funding VEMEX 2019 and IBTM to enable attendance
- Meetings with various partners re film and TV locations for BBC
- Meeting with Anne Blackham and DATA - re group tours and working together on further itineraries after tremendous win for Devon being best group travel destination at recent Group Leisure Travel Awards
- Confirm our joint attendance at the Camping and Caravaning Show in February 2020 at the NEC
- Four county meeting re the future of SWTA and moving it forward- with Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset.
- Continue on itineraries for media visits x 5
- Global Connect meeting re their Meet the Buyer programmes for 2020
- VisitEngland Rose Awards announced
INTERNATIONAL
- Secure partnership funding VEMEX 2019 and IBTM to enable attendance
- Research journalists attending VEMEX 2019 in NY, confirm 22 appointments
- Meeting with Chinese influencer Feixue Haungdu and Neville Stankley re developing further, inbound visitors from China
- Continue working with VisitCornwall re our Discover England Funded project. Meeting with Simon Bradley our researcher based in the US, re our sales week on the East Coast
- Confirm our sales visit itinerary working with tour operators and travel agents in New York, New Jersey and Long Island
- Attend VIBE in London - meeting key global managers from VisitBritain to enable us to build on these markets
- Attend a dinner with the VB North American managers in London
- Hosted Tara Barnes, who heads up the tour operators and agents for the East and Central regions of the US on a 4 day, 3 night Familiarisation trip, covering Exeter, Dartmoor, East Devon and Jurassic Coast, and South Devon
- Attend 'Take England to the World' training day run by VisitEngland in Plymouth.
- US sales mission commencing 27th October for 1 week
- Attend VEMEX in partnership with Mayflower 400 and VisitCornwall to continue the work for our Discover England Fund project. 22 journalist meetings as well as hosted lunch
- Sales calls to tour operators and agents throughout the week in NYC and New Jersey
- IBTM - meeting with English Riviera and Providence Hospitality
DEF PROJECT
- Continue to work with VisitCornwall and the tour operators /agents and DMC's to get our product onto their selling platforms for late 2019 and 2020
- As above - but partner funded as DEF project funding ceased in March 2019. We have had notification for the next round, but is now on hold until after the General Election
PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES - Trade show and press/buyer educationals
- Camping and Caravan Show -Feb 2020 NEC Partnership opportuntities
- Press and FAM visit requests - national and provincial. Requests covering all areas
- US Sales Mission - April 2020. Partnership opportuntities
- We are holding back on booking Vakantiebeurs and ITB until we know the outcome of BREXIT. Any questions please do contact me.