Earlier this week, OnTheWight published a release from the Isle of Wight Labour Party regarding the future of the Isle of Wight Walking Festival.
The article called for Visit Isle of Wight’s CEO, David Thornton, to work with the Council and local groups to co-ordinate a plan to maintain the event.
Having been away at the World Travel Market for the last four days, David Thornton has today responded to the article and kindly shared an update on how he and others have been working, for some time, to secure a future for the Isle of Wight Walking Festival.
He told OnTheWight,
“Prior to the Labour party’s letter, I met with a large group of Walk leaders in October here at the Guildhall to discuss the prospects for a Walking Festival next year, and have been developing a business plan for our marketing panel to consider.
“This document is now completed but I am waiting for information regarding the social media communication channels that have previously operated for the walking festival, and the consumer databases held by IW Council in relation to previous festivals (eg lists of previous visitors etc..) so that we can understand what resources remain intact. We have also met with Walk the Wight to explore further tie-ins with their very successful event.”
Walking a ‘must do’ for visitors
David went on to say,
“The meeting at the Guildhall with the Ramblers Association, AONB, Natural Enterprise and independent walkers, including the Island’s long distance walk leaders was very positive and we all feel that more focus on walking on the Island is a “must-do” for the Island’s visitor economy.
“Whilst a few thousand visitors do come during the festival specifically to walk on the Island, many thousands also come here walking at other times of the year too. We need to do more to showcase walks across the year as well as during an annual festival period.”
More competition from other walking festivals
Innovative themes are going to be one of the focuses to attract new visitors to the isle of Wight. David went on to say,
“I recognise that a Walking Festival does help to shine the spotlight on the Isle of Wight as a walking destination, and generates much needed exposure for the Island. But equally we have to accept that there are now many walking festivals taking place across the UK, and we should also be thinking about what new innovative themes and events can be introduced to attract new visitors to the Island.
“Even so, the visitors who come to the Walking Festival do stay in our accommodation, eat in our pubs and restaurants and visit attractions whilst they’re here, and this is essential income for many visitor economy businesses during the early part of the year.”
A costly operation
Naturally with Isle of Wight tourism businesses funding activity through levy money, Visit IW need to ensure the best possible use of their marketing spend.
David explained,
“IW Council had a full time events officer who co-ordinated the festival over a year, and Visit Isle of Wight does not have a spare member of staff who can easily drop what they’re currently doing and step into a new co-ordination role.
“Also, the previous walking festival had a brochure, a Website, and a bespoke marketing campaign funded by the Council and external sponsors such as ourselves. If we were to use funds from the WIGHT BID to pay for these activities it will be at the expense of something else that we wouldn’t be able to afford to do.”
Best bang-for-bucks
It’s thought that there will be a framework in place for a festival next year, but return on investment needs to be carefully considered. David added,
“Consequently it’s important that we have a bit of time to work out the best bang-for-bucks return on investment for the Island as a whole before we finalise our plans.
“However, I personally do think we have a framework in place that will lead to a Walking Festival theme happening in late April and culminating in the Walk the Wight spectacular in May.
“We also think, a little like the recent Beer and Bus weekend, that the festival offers a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on more of our town and country pubs, and we’re working out how that could happen at the moment.”
Keep the dates free
It’s great to hear that something, is likely to happen in 2017.
David finished by saying,
“I did write straight back to the Labour party here on the Island to tell them about what we had been investigating and the meetings we have held so far.
“In the meantime I want to reassure the tourism Industry that I’m looking at this in detail, and perhaps go further than that, to say we should all pencil dates into diaries: 29th April to 14th of May 2017.”
