4 February 2009
Greater Morpeth Development Trust
PRESS RELEASE
Working together to bring tourists into Morpeth
Lessons learned from preliminary talks about how to make Morpeth an even more visitor-friendly market town destination will be put into practice at an open session workshop later this month.
Last week the first in a series of three meetings arranged as part of a Market Town Welcome initiative was well attended in Morpeth by local people of all ages and interests as well as representatives from Greater Morpeth Development Trust, Morpeth Chamber of Trade, local councils, tourist information and Northumberland Tourism officials, retailers and business people, accommodation providers and students from King Edward VI (KEVI) School.
Morpeth along with Hexham is looking at ways that it can entice more visitors and day trippers as part of a market town welcome programme supported by GMDT Northumberland Tourism, the Hexham Community Partnership and Northumberland Strategic Partnership with funding from regional development agency One North East.
At last week's meeting those present examined both the good and not-so-good points of the town as a visitor attraction as well as what can be done to cash in on Morpeth's strengths and eliminate its weaknesses.
Findings from the meeting will used by a team of consultants from Miller Research in association with tourism expert Alison Caffyn to stimulate further discussion about Morpeth's future at more meetings and a workshop that will be held in the Town Hall ballroom on Tuesday 24th February starting at 4pm.
The workshop that will be open to anyone to attend will develop ideas that came out of last week's meeting as well as beginning to identify areas of action which can and should be taken to further develop Morpeth as a visitor destination.
David Lodge, Chief Executive of GMDT, commented: "We were extremely encouraged by the attendance at last week's meeting which bodes well for future working together in partnership to bring even more visitors into Morpeth right throughout the year.
"We are keen to see even more businesses, retailers and accommodation providers at the workshop session so they can contribute their thoughts and ideas.
"But we were particularly impressed by the contribution of the KEVI students which added a different perspective to the discussions. As young people their thoughts about what can be done to make Morpeth even more inviting as a destination especially for their peer groups, is invaluable."
KEVI Student Voice Assistant Oliver Barnes described the meeting as 'thought provoking and revealing'.
"As young people we were really interested in what was discussed at the meeting and one thought which arose is that Morpeth seems to have a problem attracting young people to the town," he said.
"So we are keen to know how we can be involved in the re-branding of Morpeth and what research we can carry out at school to find out what our peers want from a tourist local which we could add to the data being collected for this market town welcome initiative.
"We would like to do as much as possible as this project encompasses people of all age groups and we think it is so important for young people to have their say."
There is a website which local people can use to find out more about the initiative which is www.markettownwelcome.co.uk. Or David Lodge can be contacted with views about the market town welcome project at david.lodge@gmdt.org
Anyone wanting to attend the next workshop session can also register their interest by contacting project manager Sam White on 01873 851884 or sam@miller-research.co.uk
FOR FURTHER IN FORMATION CONTACT:- Ian Leech
GMDT Press Contact on 079 681 02547
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