|
|
Kent Big Day Out 2008
Kent Big Day Out 2008 - 05 April
Following the success of the county’s first Big Day Out, Kent Tourism has announced that the next Kent Big Day Out will be held on 5 April 2008.
In March more than 11,000 free tickets were made available to people across Kent to experience for themselves the warm welcome and entertainment available to visitors at 88 key attractions including castles, historic houses, gardens, leisure and shopping centres.
Research has revealed that 93 per cent of participants rated the attraction they visited on the Big Day Out as excellent or good and would recommend it to friends and family. Eight-two per cent of people described their overall experience of the first Big Day Out as excellent and 94 per cent of participants said they feel proud to show their friends and family around the county.
“It was a tremendous success,” said Fran Warrington, head of Kent Tourism at Kent County Council.
“And we are planning to make it even bigger in 2008 – with more free tickets to sport and activity destinations alongside more major tourist attractions and the many hidden treasures our visitors love to discover and explore.
“The feedback we have had from attractions taking part this year has been very positive and the record number of visits to the Visit Kent website pages to research destinations and to book free tickets - 22,955 - means that many more people are now aware of the wealth of places to visit right on their doorstep.
“We were pleased to have been able to give hands-on industry experience to more than 100 students from Mid Kent College and Canterbury College who assisted with customer service and on-the-day research. And we are looking forward to expanding their role next year.
“And we were delighted with the enthusiasm and support generated by our local newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations which helped so much in raising awareness of this countywide event.”
Many visitors enjoying free Big Day Out tickets took advantage of gift shops and catering facilities at the sites they had chosen generating additional income of more than £65,000.
A total of five Kent Big Day Out events are being held in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics to raise awareness of the important of tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses to the Kent economy and to enable more local people to learn more about the attractions and destinations available in the county.
“Word of mouth and personal recommendations are always the best marketing tool,” said Ms Warrington. “Many visitors to Kent stay with friends and family and rely on them to tell them about the top places to visit.
“We are expecting 80 per cent of people coming to the county to support the Olympics to be domestic visitors staying with residents so the better informed we are about are own county the warmer the welcome we can offer.’
The March Big Day Out was also the first major test of interactive booking and data collation for the Visit Kent website.
“It all worked very well, coped with the tremendous amount of traffic being driven to the site and 10,734 tickets were booked and distributed online. Our Tourist Information Centres across Kent provided access to the free vouchers and distributed just over 700 tickets to people without internet access.”
|
