• Promotion of the Borough as a tourist and visitor destination
• Production of Borough Holiday Guide and associated website for 2008
• Tourism Events
• Liaising with journalists, production companies etc. with regard to coverage of the Borough in the media for tourism matters
• Management of the three Tourist Information centres within the Borough at Berwick town, Seahouses and Wooler
• Publications –Tourism Leaflets and literature
• Attending Tourism-related exhibitions
• Organising Distribution Days for the Holiday Guide and other Tourism literature
• Advice and guidance to the Borough’s tourism businesses
• Develop a less seasonal industry by attracting visitors in low season and the shoulder months.
• Development of local crafts and produce
• Tourism related product development
Corporate Policy
How Policy Implemented
Equality & Diversity
Accessible Tourist Information Centres. Hearing loop in each TIC. Wooler has a lift and Seahouses has a ramp. Berwick TIC has access to the front of the office but steps to the back section. Staff can provide visitors with a pack of all these leaflets displayed in that area .
Data Quality
Statistics on covalent. Proof reading of Holiday Guide and website.
Service Policy
How Policy Implemented
One North East
Follow guidelines for networked Tourist Information Centres. Tourism Strategies and policies of One North East and Northumberland Tourism Ltd the Area Tourism Partnership.
Shared promotions. Follow guidelines for networked Tic’s. Training. Desti.ne system.
North Northumberland Tourism Association
Council representation on the Executive Committee. Training. Familiarisation visits. Holiday Guide working group.
IT Systems
How IT System Supports Service Delivery
Desti.ne
One North East Online booking. Northumberland database.
Tourism Website
Promotes the Borough and its events for tourism.
Covalent
Enables performance management against targets.
J4B BidTrack
Enables sourcing of potential funding for projects.
Achievements: Previous Year & Current Year (to date)
Measure or Milestone
Reference
Target 2006/7
Actual 2006/7
Target 2007/8
Forecast2007/8
Berwick Borough Holiday Guide
Dec 06
Dec 06
Dec 07
Dec 07
Border Marches
May 07
May 07
May 07
May 08
May 08
Publications
Ongoing
Attending Exhibitions
January 07
January07
January
07
3 exhibitions in 2008
3 exhibitions in 2008
Berwick Christmas Lights Switch On
Dec 06
Dec 06
TIC Refurbishment of Seahouses
April 07
March 07
April 07
Organised successful annual Distribution Day
March 07
March 07
March 07
March 08
March 08
Continuous development of the three TICs within the Borough
ongoing
Ongoing
1 TIC (Berwick town) improved
Encouraged more accommodation providers to participate in the national inspection scheme.
Ongoing
Journalists,media,film production companies – accompanied/itineraries/supplied information.
Ongoing
Success
How Achieved
Lessons Learnt
Production of Berwick Borough Holiday Guide
Tourist Information Manager seconded three days a week to assist Tourism Resources Officer with production of guide.
Working Group of tourism business’s formed to keep advertisers informed. Meetings arranged for advertisers at various stages of production.
Informing the business’s at stages of production was an advantage
Distribution Day
Organised annually by the Tourism Resources Officer.
Border Marches
Advertising and working in partnership with the Walking Festival.
Joint advertising and hitting a wider audience.
Challenge
How Resolved
Outcome
Reduction in budgets
Less seasonal staff in TICs.
Reduced budget for Border Marches
Less resources
Event went ahead
Financial Resources to Deliver Services
Note: This section of the report will be based on information contained in the Budget Book for the current year, in this case 2007/08. The original budget figures for the current financial year will be used as the base line figure for the calculation of cashable and efficiency gains.
Cost Centre
Description
TOURISM
Expense
£
Description of Main Activity & Cost
Employees
72360
TIC Staffing
Employees Support
1590
Support cost for operational tourism staff
Support Services
16570
Service Management
33190
Tourism Resources Officer
Running Costs
149360
Describe the main service running costs
Capital Charges
2090
Depreciation charge for Seahouses TIC
Gross Expenditure
275160
Direct Income - Grants
135980
Sale of stock, booking fees, advertising fees etc.
Direct Income – Fees/Charges
Recharge Income
Net Expenditure
139180
Cost Centre
Description
TOURISM PROJECTS
Expense
£
Description of Main Activity & Cost
Employees
31810
Admin & Clerical
Employees Support
6390
Support Services
10600
Service Management
21540
Running Costs
9840
9060
6000
570
5340
7960
250
Advertising
Publicity and Promotions
Contribution to Northumberland Tourism Ltd.
Research
Christmas Lights
Local event support (Riding of the Bounds, Border Marches)
Use of Borough vehicles
Capital Charges
Gross Expenditure
109360
Direct Income - Grants
Describe income sources
Direct Income – Fees/Charges
25750
Describe income sources
Recharge Income
Net Expenditure
83610
Value for Money Assessment
Efficiency Measure
BBC
Local
National
Visitor spend within the Borough
112.36 million
Total net cost of Berwick Borough Council Tourism Service (including projects) per head of population
£222790 divided by population of ????? = £ per head of population
Efficiency Measure
Reason for Difference to Local / National Trend
Visitor numbers, Berwick Borough, 2006-07
Visitor numbers, Berwick Borough, Summer Season 2007
Unit cost of producing 2007 Holiday Guide
Please complete the three following tables (if applicable) indicating how partnership working, IT systems or adherence to / achievement of quality standards have contributed to value for money.
Service Partner Providers
How Partner Supports Service VFM
One North East
Training- customer care,Destine,Welcome Host
Northumberland Tourism
Shared Promotions
IT Systems
How IT System Supports VFM
Desti.ne
J4B Bid Track
Helps identify potential sources of funding for projects
How Service Links to Council Priorities
This section contains the same information as collected in the previous year’s budget setting process. The priorities will be reviewed by the Members and either modified or confirmed as consistent (remaining the same as last year). The data provided on this document will be summarised and challenged at Corporate Management Team for content and consistency.
Priority
Description of how service contributes to Council Priority
1
Continuous service improvement
2
3
4
Promoting business growth-encouraging and advising new providers
5
Seeking sustainable partnerships-NNTA,Northumberland Tourism, One North East,Alnwick District Council.
6
Enhancing tourism – Developing the product
7
Making services more accessible – Continuing to improve access in Tic’s. Joint promotions with GNER,Virgin,Bus Companies.
8
9
10
Influencing transport improvements – Working with Sustrans on cycle routes. Bus information and tickets sold in the Tic’s.
11
12
Enjoying diverse and exciting cultural opportunities – Film Festival,Living History events,Contemporary Arts.
Contribution to Other Five C’s
Outcome Factor
Description of how service contributes to “C” Factor
Customers
Tourist information Centres
Communication
Promote the Borough
Cohesion
Internal Partnership – Regularly liase with Musuem,Town Centre Manager,Sports Officer,Archive,Disability Officer,Enviromental Maintenance Officers, Depot. Regular team meetings.
Culture
Value of people. Positive recognition
Compliance
Appraisals.
Service Proposals for next 3 Years
Measure / Milestone
Reference
Forecast2007/8
Target 2008/9
Target 2009/10
Target 2010/11
Encouraging and engaging organisations from public and private sectors to develop a single tourism vision for the Borough, leading to the effective promotion of the tourism product.
Ongoing
“Summer of Nostalgia” major tourism festival
1 Festival delivered throughout August 2008
Production of annual Borough Holiday Guide and website
1 Guide and website produced by December 2008
Encourage accommodation providers to improve their quality rating through the national inspection scheme
ongoing
Develop a comprehensive all year round events list.
ongoing
Work closely with Northumberland Tourism and One North East on various marketing campaigns
Ongoing
These targets will feed directly into the Best Value Performance Plan. Once the targets have been established and agreed (in principle) with the Head of Service or Director, an assessment of resources required should be made in the next table.
Measure / Milestone
Reference
Resources Needed
Less
Same
More
Production of Holiday guide
ü
Distribution Day
ü
Comprehensive Events List
ü
Refurbishment of Berwick TIC.
ü
Develop Tourist Information product
ü
Training of small number of other staff members for emergency relief at TICs
ü
Promotion of Berwick Borough “Less than an hour away” at the Edinburgh Festival 2008
ü
“Summer of Nostalgia” Festival
ü
The achievements of some of these targets will be achievable within existing or reduced resources.
Where service improvements are linked to more resources a ProjectBrief (template available on the Intranet) should be completed and submitted to the Programme Improvement Board.
Where service improvements are linked to less resources, the proposals for savings should be identified in the Proposals to Achieve Cashable & Efficiency Gains section.
“Christmas Lights”, although presently allocated to the Tourism heading, would be more appropriately transferred to the Town Centre Manager’s budget portfolio.
The allocation of £570 towards Research projects could be reduced to £0 if Northumberland Tourism Ltd. could undertake tourism research instead of the Council. Reductions in other spending heads below would have considerable detrimental effects on the Council’s promotion for tourism purposes.
Proposals to reduce Cashable resource requirement by 3%
No
Description of Proposal
Value (£)
Timing
1
With staffing already at a minimum savings could only be made in:
Publicity and Promotions
Research
Christmas lights
Local Events support (Riding of the Bounds, Border Marches)
advertising budgets.
Total:
272
17
160
239
295
_____
983
2008-09
2
3
Proposals to reduce resource requirement by 10% (Cashable or Efficiency Effect)
No
Description of Proposal
Value (£)
Timing
1
With staffing already at a minimum savings could only be made in:
Publicity and Promotions
Research
Christmas lights
Local Events support (Riding of the Bounds, Border Marches)
