WEBSITE ARTICLE
April 2025
On March 19, 2025, the Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY) Advisory Board held its scheduled meeting to discuss strategies for growing the region’s tourism sector and supporting the success of the visitor economy.
Launch of Conference Champions campaign
The Board agreed on the launch of a new ‘Conference Champions’ campaign to help attract major conferences and other events to Hull and East Yorkshire.
Under the campaign, business professionals and industry experts from a wide range of sectors are being asked to become Conference Champions to help bring events they attend elsewhere to the region.
The Conference Champions should be passionate advocates for Hull and East Yorkshire, with influence and a strong network of contacts.
They will have a key role to play in attracting national and international events, helping raise the region’s profile as a premier destination.
It was noted that conference delegates are typically high yield visitors, providing a significant economic boost to the host area.
VHEY will host regular gatherings of the Conference Champions, to share updates, success stories and news of upcoming events.
All the members of the Board agreed to be Conference Champions, and to encourage their own contacts to do so too.
Chair’s update
Chair Chris Blacksell provided an update report to the Board, highlighting how he has been proactively working towards the following three specific strategic goals:
- To continue to prepare for either a Yorkshire-wide Destination Development Partnership or a less formal arrangement with other Local Visitor Economic Partnerships (LVEPs) in Yorkshire.
- To raise the profile of the visitor economy among key strategic partners and the public.
- To position VHEY as a body that can access and influence the elected Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor, to ensure the visitor economy is considered when taking decisions on key areas such as transport, business development and skills development.
Progress against action plan
The Board heard about positive progress against the following four strategic priorities of VHEY’s new action plan:
- Grow value: Build a £1bn+ visitor economy across Hull and East Yorkshire by 2029.
- Quality destinations: Present and develop a destination of distinctiveness through animation, pride of place and sustainability.
- Support productivity: Through a new and connected business support package.
- Embrace a new landscape: In partnership with regional private and public sector stakeholders, create a Local Visitor Economic Partnership (LVEP) which supports national visitor performance indicators.
Specifically, it was noted the business support package is now a holistic approach, including one-to-ones, training in particular areas of business and funding advice. Businesses can influence the support offered via the business survey.
The Board also heard that the number of VHEY partners has increased by 10%.
Commercial strategy
The Board discussed plans to launch a new commercial strategy, to generate additional revenue to further support businesses operating in the visitor economy.
Further updates on this will follow.