How Do We Achieve Our Aims

The ATP's core activities can be divided into 4 key areas:

1. Strategy and Representation

Tourism Tyne & Wear has many partners and stakeholders and is responsible for maintaining, coordinating and enhancing these relationships. As a partner in Tourism Network North East it works closely with the Tourism Team at One NorthEast and the three other ATPs and ensures the destination is represented at a regional, national and international level.

2. Marketing and Information

Tourism Tyne & Wear is responsible for the production and coordination of marketing material in the sub-region. New visitor information such as the 'Where to Stay Guide' and 'Shopping Guide' are the first to be produced covering the whole of Tyne & Wear. The 'Pocket Guide' and 'What's on Guide' which were previously focussed on NewcastleGateshead are now incorporating information from North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

www.visitnewcastlegateshead.co.uk is the website developed by Tourism Tyne & Wear. Powered by Desti.ne, it is one of the main portals for information on tourism businesses and events in the sub region. Tourism Tyne & Wear manages, coordinates and inputs this information for all aspects of the visitor economy.

Tourism Tyne & Wear also creates and delivers promotional campaigns to target specific markets and increase visitor numbers. The Irish campaign launched at the end of 2007 is looking to increase Irish visitors to the area by highlighting the abundance of sporting, shopping and nightlife opportunities visitors can take advantage of. The Attractions Pass which will be launched in British Tourism Week in May 2008 is aimed at increasing day visitors to all the attractions in the sub-region who offer a discount/concession.

Tourism Tyne & Wear use the marketing and communications expertise of NGI and the Local Authorities to run marketing campaigns and target media.

3. Business Engagement / Development

A primary focus of Tourism Tyne & Wear is a commitment to improving the quality of product on offer. It works hard with Visit Britain and the AA to increase the number of accommodation businesses benefiting from quality assessment before further engaging them with marketing and business development opportunities.

There are many initiatives, projects and training courses available to businesses through agencies such as One North East and Business Link. Through proactive business engagement, Tourism Tyne & Wear ensures that the sub region's tourism businesses have access to the relevant support. Tourism Tyne & Wear also understands the increasing importance for tourism businesses to be online and works closely with them to ensure they benefit from the facilities offered by Desti.ne.

Engagement is carried out through a combination of one-to-one discussions which helps to identify business specific needs, and networked forum events which allow Tourism Tyne & Wear to communicate the 'big-picture' messages and generate enthusiasm and commitment to the sub-regional plan. More importantly, the forums coordinated by Tourism Tyne & Wear give competing businesses a platform to share best-practice, discuss issues and solve problems. They also give businesses the opportunity to help shape any next steps taken at a strategic level which may influence funding and future projects, initiatives and capital investment.

4. Destination Development

Tourism Tyne & Wear is responsible for preparing and monitoring the Area Tourism Management Plan and helping to prioritise and develop projects that enhance the destination. Currently, we are working on a series of Gateway studies looking at the welcome visitors receive at entry points such as Newcastle International Airport and Port of Tyne. Legible Cities is a project that is looking to identify how people move around the area and the developments that can improve this experience. The recently completed Hotel Growth Study has looked at the gaps and challenges in hotel development across NewcastleGateshead and Sunderland. A similar study will be done along the coast in 2008.