An Olympic Effort

Rural England has given much to the World, including the inspiration for the modern Olympic Games whose origins are in Much Wenlock in the Shropshire Hills. Today the Olympics have grown into a multi billion industry and it’s now coming to a street-corner near you.

London 2012 will be a huge sporting event and the Government is intent on making it a great showcase for the country as a whole. Over the Olympic period 40 000 journalists will pitch up here and half of the World’s population is expected to watch some of the events with ¼ to 1/3 watching the opening ceremony alone.

I attended a briefing this week by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, his tourism Minister John Penrose MP and the key officials running the torch relay and England’s tourism plan for the Olympics.

You certainly couldn’t fault them all for their enthusiasm for the opportunities nor their energy in putting together a plan to capitalize on it.

First, there’s the torch relay. Arriving in Britain from Greece in mid May it will travel around the country with its convoy of support vehicles, runners, media and security. It will visit all 15 of the UK’s national parks on its tour and the organizers claim it will be within a few miles of 95% of the population. Details ate www.london2012.com/olympic-torch-relay

The iconic torch comes to the Peak District on the afternoon of Friday 29 June with a visit to the cable cars at the Heights of Abraham, Matlock, Darley Dale, Chatsworth and then Bakewell. It then goes on to Buxton and Ashbourne before heading off to Derby.

We are planning events with our partners in Bakewell and I suspect this leg will be one of the more high profile parts of its tour. Secondly, the Government is keen to tell the World about what makes the UK a great place for tourism (and business, and education etc) and we heard from the Ministers that the ‘Great Britain’ campaign will be a £127M marketing and advertising campaign across the World featuring some of the best things about our country.

The idea here is to promote the UK for the long term, not just for the duration of the Games. And, naturally, the UK’s national parks feature fairly prominently, especially those in the ‘Destinations of Distinction’ such as the Lake District, Broads and the Peak District.

During 2012 the UK national parks will be working on the theme of ‘Winning Landscapes’ and we’ll be featuring our links with outdoor sports, great Olympians and, most importantly, the legacy issues.

For us in the Peak District this will continue to focus our work encouraging more use of cycling, both for leisure and as a lifestyle choice for travelling. Watch this space for more developments on that front. That would be a great legacy.

Thirdly, the tourism industry is concerned that ‘normal visitors’ both to the UK and within the UK might be scared off a bit by the thought of the Olympic brouhaha. So, they’re going to be putting some real cash and co-ordination by a new national marketing plan, focused around a TV advertising campaign, other forms of marketing and a discount scheme, for visitors linked to the 2012 theme.

Whatever your take on whether the Olympics are a brilliant thing or a bit of a costly extravagance, there’s no doubting that for the tourism sector it’s an opportunity. I was pleased that those at the top with proper resources and other levers of control seem to have a coherent plan.

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