Successful Conference Ambassador Programme launches in Doncaster
Yesterday (8th October) Yorkshire South Tourism launched its innovative Conference Ambassador Programme in Doncaster. The venue was St Leger Horse Park, home of the Northern Racing College.
The Programme engages with local businesspeople in order to create a network of motivated, informed and well-connected ambassadors who can promote Doncaster's events and conference facilities to the organizations and societies of which they are members.
Stephen Shore, Chief Executive of Doncaster Chamber, was Doncaster's first Ambassador. He thinks that the opportunities for new business are there and that Doncaster has the infrastructure to deliver:
"On average, I receive at least one conference invitation every day. With the facilities that Doncaster has, we should be bidding to bring more of them to the town.
"The Racecourse is a fantastic facility for a conference of 200 people up to 1,000, the Doncaster Dome is a wonderful flexible venue, and we've got the new performance venue that will come on line with the civic cultural quarter."
The Ambassador Programme has already directly contributed £172,000 to the sub-regional economy. A further £273,080 worth of events are confirmed and Yorkshire South's Conference Team are currently possessing enquiries worth an estimated £1.1 million. These figures are estimated based on VisitBritain's economic impact multipliers.
Richard Jones, Chief Executive of Yorkshire South, said:
"We're using the Conference Ambassadors Programme to empower people. We give them the knowledge, confidence and support to propose their city as the best venue for their society's next conference or event and then we work with them to deliver. All we're looking for is for people to say three simple words to the right people: ‘Why Not Doncaster?'."
He added: "The region benefits because of the high value of conference business, and the Ambassador benefits because it raises the profile of their specialism within the local area and it raises their profile amongst their professional peers."
Similar ambassador programmes exist in Newcastle and Edinburgh, where 50% and 60% respectively of their annual conference business comes from the work of Ambassadors.
Research shows that 60% of people who visit a region as delegates return as leisure visitors within 6 months.
The launch included presentations by Stephen Shore, Chief Executive of Doncaster Chamber, Richard Jones, Chief Executive of Yorkshire South and Rowland Foote, Principal of Doncaster College.
A further series of networking events across the region will follow.
