Bath and North East Somerset Destination Management Plan
Following on from our work on the West of England Tourism Development Plan, in 2007 we were asked to prepare a destination management plan (DMP) for Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES). This was one of a number of such plans being funded by South West Tourism. Our role was to look at the visitor economy in the round and in particular how Bath should be managing te destination as a whole in order to sustain a thriving tourism sector and deliver local benefit.
We undertook a detailed examination of the existing tourism offer, looked at the nature of the visitor market and emerging trends. Bath is on the verge of significant changes and a key element of the study was to ensure that tourism fitted into the wider aspirations for the City and surrounding area encapsulated in the Bath Vision .
Our intial findings were discussed with various groups of stakeholders and it was clear that a considerable consensus existed about the way forward. Key issues identified were the management of the public realm, maintaining the distinctiveness of Bath, and refreshing the offer.
The final strategy comprised a series of actions grouped under four strands of marketing, product development, infrasructure and management. It is likely that a new organisation will be established combining tourism marketing and city cente management.
