2014-10-27



The "power of partnership" is at the heart of a new five-year vision for tourism in Greenwich.

The first Destination Management Plan for the Royal borough was launched on Wednesday, alongside the Visit Greenwich brand.

Visit Greenwich CEO Barrie Kelly said it would act as a "road map" offering ways to develop the visitor economy during the next half-decade, while envisaging its role as a "living document" to be reviewed annually.

Its focus will be on increasing jobs for residents and revenues from visitors - achieved through partnerships between the not-for-profit company and stakeholders.

It will centre on Greenwich town, North Greenwich, Woolwich, Eltham and Blackheath.

"Generally, we have large volumes of tourism yet quite modest spend figures," said Barrie.

"They're OK, not amazing for a London context. That's the challenge for us.

"There is a range of things we need to do and we think by five years we can grow the economic impact by 28% and envisage 3,300 jobs to be created and we are working with the council to make sure we sell tourism as a career path."

He added interest in the borough had been heightened since this September's Tall Ships Festival, making use of Greenwich's eight-mile frontage onto the River Thames.



Greenwich Council leader Denise Hyland said the Olympic and Paralympic Games "brought the eyes of the world" onto the SE10 postcode two years earlier.

"One of the main outcomes of that decision was to use the point of 2012 as a catalyst for growth.

"As leader, I can say we are absolutely committed to developing tourism for the benefits of our residents and businesses.

"Tourism is a major employer for the area and there are 14,000 full-time jobs that are supported by tourism, with visitors bringing in £1.1billion to the economy - the key to success is having active and committed partnerships."

The vision will work on two areas - encouraging more spend from existing markets and developing new markets.

This includes the creation of the new five star Arora Hotel at The O2, the continual conservation of The Painted Hall at The Old Royal Naval College and the London City Cruise Port at Enderby Wharf, which will promote the town as a base to explore the capital.

Barrie added a Visit Greenwich website was already live, with an App and destination management campaign to follow next year.

Go to visitgreenwich.org.uk



CASE STUDIES

>ARORA HOTEL

- 453 bedroom InterContinental Hotel at The O2

- Due to open 12 months from now.

- Other facilities include a Sky Bar, all day fine dining restaurant, conference centre and private event space with views overlooking Canary Wharf.

- Raj Shah, commercial director, said: "We really want to create a destination brand.

"One of the difficulties we are experiencing is changing the mindset from having events in central London, Kensington and Knightsbridge and bringing them over to Greenwich.

"Part of the mission is to say we have got a fantastic, modern facility to use, and we want to combine that with all the culture and heritage that Greenwich has to offer."

>THE PAINTED HALL

- An ambition to both improve the visitor experience, double the number of annual visitors to 800,000 visitors and restore the remainder of the artwork.

- This will involve a 3.million grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund - due to be decided upon in November - as well as the creation of a new visitor entrance and cafe.

- Chief executive of The Greenwich Foundation Brendan McCarthy said: "By working on our individual tourist attractions we can really make a success.

"By joining in partnership, we can do so much better for local, national and indeed visitors from around the word."

Show more