CT Consults

Finding the next winning products

Period shopping arcade with decorative glass domed roof. Visit Leeds seeking to create bookable products for the tourism market.

The challenge

We were appointed by Visit Leeds to deliver a product audit and additional development support to identify opportunities to create bookable products for the tourism market. This had a number of delivery facets to it:

  1. A detailed product audit that mapped and evaluated the product portfolio of the Visitor Economy in Leeds – no assumptions, except for modest budgets;
  2. An educational programme of stakeholder engagement and support that encouraged the development of the quality and depth of the city’s visitor offer to attract new national and international audiences;
  3. A suite of themed tours and itineraries that can be used across consumer and trade activity – spotting gaps, categorised in a market-facing manner, and designing cluster-based projects to maximise potential;
  4. A travel trade tool kit to assist Visit Leeds with its programme of travel trade engagement.

Our response

We conducted extensive online research to identify official and unofficial visitor information or guide websites, media recommendations, and recommendations on sites such as TripAdvisor to collate a comprehensive list of potential suppliers. We created an editable database of suppliers that included dedicated sections for tours/excursions, commercial tourist attractions, heritage attractions, cultural attractions, events/festivals, retail, accommodation, food and drink. We then graded the suppliers in relation to market readiness, suitability for direct to consumer and/or travel trade, and seasonal or year-round availability – providing a basis to prioritise engagement requirements. We delivered a series of cluster stakeholder workshops with experts from TripAdvisor and Bokun, followed by 1:1 surgeries. 

Kickstarting a new approach 

Through a labour-intensive process, Visit Leeds now has a number of online bookable product experiences to promote to the travel trade. More local organisations and event producers are seeing the opportunity to access new markets and to improve their digital skills building confidence in using online marketing channels.

Domed ceiling in a period building with retail
Thank you again for coming across and delivering another useful and informative session”

Claire Heap, Visitor Economy Manager, Visit Leeds

New products

Existing and new product offers now available to book online & through the travel trade

New collaborations between product suppliers

Guides setting up tours with food and drink experience suppliers

New Visit Leeds website

Visit Leeds has subsequently invested in a new website to better present the city region offer

Get in touch

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