Over the last decade the Tourism Sector has become a major industry within South Derbyshire, and is growing much more rapidly than elsewhere in Derbyshire or the East Midlands. The National Forest is not only providing a wide range of leisure, environmental and recreational facilities for local people, it also represents a unique opportunity to grow a new tourism destination.

Major attractions within South Derbyshire include Rosliston Forestry Centre, Calke Abbey, Sharpe’s Pottery Museum, Swadlincote Ski Centre, the T G Green Pottery, Foremark and Staunton Harold Reservoirs, and Melbourne Hall. In addition the amount of tourist accommodation is steadily growing and now ranges from large hotels to cosy bed & breakfasts and self-catering cottages. Within just a few miles there are other major draws for visitors, including Conkers, Twycross Zoo, the Donington Grand Prix Collection, Coors Visitor Centre, and the National Memorial Arboretum. More recently the area has started to see the growth of rural activities such as horse riding, llama trekking and woodland pursuits.

As well as the obvious tourist businesses listed above, many other local businesses are already benefiting from the growth of tourism, as visitors spend their money in pubs and restaurants, local shops and petrol filling stations, to give just a few examples. Rural businesses in particular can be kept viable and open for local residents through the additional spending of visitors, helping to retain important services for local communities.

South Derbyshire District Council works closely with neighbouring areas and the National Forest Company to produce, promote and distribute the National Forest & Beyond Visitor Guide each year. The Council is also an active partner in Visit Peak District & Derbyshire, the ‘tourist board’ for the county, which produces a range of brochures and the www.visitpeakdistrict.com website (external link). Recognising the importance of tourism, in 2006 the District Council in partnership with Sharpe’s Pottery Museum in Swadlincote, opened the first ever Tourist Information Centre in South Derbyshire, which is already exceeding targets for numbers of visitors. The District Council and Derby & Derbyshire Economic Partnership have installed the latest electronic information and booking systems and a touch-screen information kiosk.

The most recent figures show that more than 2,000 people are employed by tourism and related businesses within the District, and that over 3.6 million visitors spent £116.4 million in the area in 2005. In almost every key indicator, tourism growth in South Derbyshire 2003-2005 was much stronger than the average performance for tourism in Derbyshire and the East Midlands. In particular:

• Employment supported by tourism (+1.93%) increased at more than three times the East Midlands rate (+0.59%) while across Derbyshire employment fell (-2.02%).
• Spend by all visitors (+6.09%) increased at more than double that for the East Midlands (+2.78%) while across Derbyshire as a whole it fell (-0.16%).
• Spend by staying visitors (+13.29%) increased by more than double that for Derbyshire (+6.12%) and more than four times the regional increase (+3.26%).
• The increase in Day visitor trips (+0.74%) was less than regionally (+2.50%) but compares favourably with Derbyshire (-3.11%). Increased spend by day visitors (+3.94%) bettered regional (+2.49%) and Derbyshire figures (-3.19%).

There have recently been a number of changes to the organisations providing support and services to the Tourism industry, and a brief outline is given below.

If you are an existing business interested in attracting tourists, or are considering setting up a new business and would like further information, please contact the Economic Regeneration team on 01283 595755 or email economic.regeneration@south-derbys.gov.uk

East Midlands Tourism

Government has passed responsibility for tourism to the Regional Development Agencies, and East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has established a small strategic body, East Midlands Tourism (EMT) and set up county-based Destination Management Partnerships (DMPs) at the sub-regional level. Substantial additional funding has been made available and ambitious targets set for EMT and the DMPs. Most services are now delivered at the sub-regional level. A key aim has been to rationalise the number of tourism ‘brands/destinations’ being marketed, in order to reduce duplication and maximise spend on a number of ‘iconic’ destinations, such as The National Forest. 

Visit Peak District & Derbyshire

Within Derbyshire and the wider Peak District area, the new official tourism body (or DMP) is ‘Visit Peak District & Derbyshire’. The Peak District is to be used as its “attack” brand with the aim of dispersing visitors across the whole of the county.

The main marketing and promotional tools of Visit Peak District & Derbyshire are the 2007 Peak District & Derbyshire Visitor Guide and the website www.visitpeakdistrict.com (external link). The organisation is also responsible for research and quality, and is assuming overall responsibility for the management and future development of the Destination Management System. This is an online database of visitor information that feeds numerous websites and Tourist Information Centres.

The Visit Peak District & Derbyshire website has been developed to facilitate an on-line accommodation booking facility using the Destination Management System. The enhanced website also includes pages relating to The National Forest.

For 2007 the former visitor guides produced for Derbyshire have been replaced by a single publication being produced by Visit Peak District & Derbyshire and backed by a substantial marketing campaign. However, recognising The National Forest as an iconic emerging sub-regional brand, the National Forest & Beyond Visitor Guide continues to be produced by the local partnership. The 2007 Peak District & Derbyshire Visitor Guide includes editorial relating to The National Forest and some 175,000 copies of the new guide have been printed.

The National Forest & Beyond

The National Forest & Beyond visitor guide has been produced since 2003 by a partnership of Local Authorities and the National Forest Company. The organisation of Destination Management Partnerships on a county basis has meant that The National Forest is divided between the Derbyshire and Leicestershire DMPs in the East Midlands and the Staffordshire DMP in the West Midlands, with none having overall responsibility for the emerging Forest brand/destination. The local partnership has sought to integrate its work with the DMPs, including the negotiation of a 15% discount for businesses advertising in a county guide as well as the National Forest & Beyond 2007 guide, and taking full page display adverts in the 2007 Peak District & Derbyshire, Go Leicestershire and Staffordshire Short Breaks publications. Heart of England Tourism has been commissioned to undertake Conversion Research based on the 2006 Visitor Guide. This will provide an estimate of the value of tourism arising directly from the marketing and promotional work of the National Forest & Beyond partnership.

A Group Visits guide to the National Forest & Beyond area was produced for the first time during 2006, comprising a full colour section with an insert which is updated to reflect changing dates and prices.

Swadlincote Tourist Information Centre

In April 2006 the first ever Tourist Information Centre in South Derbyshire was opened in partnership with Sharpe’s Pottery Museum in Swadlincote, where the new facility is located. Accreditation and acceptance as a member of the English Tourist Information Centre was achieved in July 2006. This service development underlines the increasing importance of Tourism to the local economy and is seen as an important contribution to the continuing development of The National Forest as a new destination. The TIC provides a customer-facing service for the benefit of visitors and residents. Numbers of people using it are running ahead of projections, and early feedback about the service provided has been complimentary.

Root & Branch Tourism Newsletter

The 'Root & Branch' newsletter is written for tourism businesses in and around The National Forest to help them keep abreast of developments across the Forest and events taking place.  To receive the newsletter contact The National Forest Company on 01283 551 211.

Useful Links:

» East Midlands Tourism

» The National Forest

» Visit Peak District & Derbyshire (Industry site)


Contact Details

South Derbyshire District Council
Economic Regeneration Service
Civic Offices
Civic Way
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE11 0AH

tel: 01283 595755
fax: 01283 595760
minicom: 01283 228149
e-mail: economic.regeneration@south-derbys.gov.uk

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