Make great memories in the Peak District National Park

The Peak District National Park is to share in a £1 million award to England’s National Parks, from the Discover England Fund.

The award – complemented by £400k in match funding from public and private sectors – will allow National Parks to introduce a collection of experiences designed to inspire overseas visitors from Australia and Germany.

Make Great Memories in England’s National Parks is one of a number of projects to receive funding from the UK Government’s £40 million Discover England Fund. It is administered by VisitEngland, which will be working to ensure that England stays competitive in the rapidly growing global tourism industry, by offering world-class products to the right customers at the right time.

The two-year collaboration will deliver a branded collection of experiences and a business support and trade marketing strategy to develop bookable tourism products across all the English National Parks. Core elements include:

• Development of an overarching brand in England’s National Parks, designed to engage Australian and German visitors via the travel trade;
• Development of a framework to engage local businesses and enhance the overall visitor experience;
• Development of a travel trade strategy to stimulate partnerships that successfully connect the brand and product with targeted overseas markets;
• Creation and delivery of a range of world-class experiences within the English National Parks, highlighting the distinctive nature and assets of each national park.

The new product collection will be marketed to travel trade partners and through co-operative marketing activities, including a range of trade missions and travel shows.

Make Great Memories in England’s National Parks has been developed by a project team of tourism officers working across the English National Park Authorities. It is chaired by Sarah Fowler, chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority, which will be the lead Park in the project.

Sarah Fowler said: “The Discover England Fund gives us an exciting opportunity to showcase the English National Parks’ special qualities to a broader international market.  Over 90% of visitors to our National Parks are domestic and this programme will be instrumental in promoting Parks to new audiences and growing our global support for the enjoyment and care of these iconic, quintessentially English living landscapes.  All of which will benefit our domestic visitors and rural economy.”

National Parks in England are major contributors to the tourism economy, attracting more than 94 million visitors each year and currently accounting for more than £4 billion of visitor spending in the Parks and surrounding areas. National Parks account for almost a quarter of spending on rural tourism.