Appendix F

Guideline questions to ask benchmarking destinations

Type of information
How they play to their
strengths

How they organise the visitor

economy in their area
Data used to continually
monitor and evaluate the
visitor economy, methods of
collection and frequency of
collection and analysis

Internal budgets and

resources for organising and
promoting the visitor
economy

Informal and formal

arrangements for liaising with
internal and external
stakeholder groups. What
works best?

Suggested questions to ask

What do you consider to be the main strengths in
your visitor offer?
How have you made the most of your strengths
in your visitor offer?
What emphasis do you put on Special Events
Are events aimed at tourists or local residents
How do you define a Visitor?
What is your visitor profile? i.e. who comes to
visit and who doesnt?
What data do you gather to monitor and evaluate
the visitor economy? E.g. how do you measure
visitor numbers?
How do you collect it? How frequently?
What is the best way to get ongoing data
regarding visitor trends?
How is the data analysed? What figures/trends
are important to you?
How do you measure the councils return on
investment (ROI) for investing in the visitor
economy? Have you any ideas how this could
best be done if you do not currently do it?
What research have you done in the last 3
years? Is any of it ongoing? How do you carry
this out?
What budget are you given to manage, organise
and promote the visitor economy?
What staff resources do you have?
How have you dealt with budget cuts? Are there
other sources of funding available, e.g. central
government grants, private sector funding?
Are there any other resources available to you,
e.g. from external sources?
How do you set targets for growth of the visitor
economy?
What kind of targets do you have?
What kind of networking arrangements do you
have with different stakeholder groups (e.g.
hotels, restaurants, shops, residents groups,
tourist attractions, councillors?)
How do you communicate with different
stakeholder groups?
What is the best way you have found of getting
different stakeholder groups involved and
committed to promoting the visitor economy in
your area?
How do you work with external partners?
What things do stakeholders take responsibility

Marketing and promotion

activities that the council
either leads or participates in
to promote the visitor
economy in their area. What
works and what doesnt?

Details on visitor economy

initiatives that have/have not
worked in their area

Council policies addressed to

support the visitor economy

Linkages with other council

strategies

for delivering in your visitor/tourism strategy?

Do you have a brand?
How do you position the brand of your city? E.g.
focused on heritage /conference facilities?
How widely did you consult on the branding?
How do you target the visitors you want?
How do you raise the visibility of your area as a
destination?
How do you market your destination?
Do you do any joint marketing with other cities?
Do you use social media for marketing? E.g.
facebook, twitter?
What are the most popular parts of your website,
or what has been most beneficial?
Do you operate a booking system through your
website?
Do you communicate with travel guide
companies, e.g. Rough Guide, Trip Advisor,?
Which ones and how?
What council activities do you have that support
the promotion, marketing and development of
tourism?
Do you have any partnership agreements (formal
or informal)? E.g. with transport providers,
international or domestic tour operators?
Have you worked with any tour operators to build
tourism packages to your area? What has
worked and what hasnt?
Which ones work well and why? Which do not
work well?
What other relationships do you have externally?
E.g. with Visit England and Visit Britain, holiday
and tour operators, destination management
organisations?
Do you offer or promote any training for tourism &
hospitality employees? Has this been
successful?
Have you any green or sustainable tourism
initiatives? E.g. park and ride, cycling or walking
offerings? What works and what doesnt?
How have you managed traffic congestion at
peak tourism times?
Have you targeted business tourists? How?
Do you participate in initiatives such as British
Tourism Week? Has it been effective?
Which council policies have you changed or
addressed in order to support the visitor economy
in your area?
How does your visitor/tourism strategy link with
other council strategies? E.g. Core Strategy,
Licensing Policy and Strategy, Economic

Development Strategy, Public Realm, Transport