Training for Tourism Managers

Introduction to Destination Marketing

Build core skills in promoting places, reaching audiences and aligning marketing with destination goals

This interactive 3-hour workshop is designed for professionals who want to develop their foundational knowledge of destination and tourism marketing. Whether you're new to tourism or looking to refresh your approach, this session covers the core principles of place branding, audience segmentation, content marketing, multi-channel promotion, and partnership working. Through real-world examples, group exercises, and practical tools, you'll gain a clear understanding of how to position your business or destination, reach the right audiences, and align marketing activity with strategic goals. No prior marketing experience is necessary to access this training.

This workshop is especially beneficial for those working in local authorities, DMOs, National Landscapes, cultural organisations, tourism businesses and tourism networks.

This workshop is ideal for:

• Local Authority tourism, place or economic development officers
• Destination Management Organisation (DMO) teams
• National Landscapes and rural tourism leads
• Culture, heritage or BID managers with visitor economy responsibilities
• Anyone new to destination marketing or looking to build confidence in their role

Supporting Your Businesses with Travel Trade

Equip your destination to help local businesses become trade-ready and maximise international opportunities.

Introductory session – Pre-trade season

This session provides a strategic foundation for DMOs and LAs looking to support local businesses and engage with the travel trade effectively.

You’ll explore:

• Structure of the travel trade and why it matters
• Assessing trade-readiness in your destination
• How to support SMEs in becoming trade-ready
• Opportunities with VisitBritain and regional buyers

Ideal for: DMO teams, local tourism officers, place-based development and business support staff

Destination Trade Strategy in Action - Deep-dive session during trade season

Lead coordinated trade engagement at scale and build a destination-wide strategy that delivers results.

This hands-on workshop explores how to develop and implement a destination-wide approach to working with the trade, including how to build strategic partnerships and lead activity at scale.

You’ll explore:

• Developing itineraries and destination trade packs
• Targeting key markets and segments
• Coordinating business engagement
• Case studies from destinations leading the way

Ideal for: Destination managers ready to scale up their trade work or build a long-term trade strategy

Essentials of Destination Imagery - Building a strong visual asset base

Assess and build a destination image library aligned with your brand and campaign needs.

This session gives place leaders and marketing teams the tools to assess their visual content, identify gaps, and plan improvements aligned with destination goals.

Topics include:

• What a great destination image library looks like – organised library by location, tags
• Sourcing images from partners and rights-free sources
• Identifying gaps in seasonal, thematic, or demographic coverage
• Basic guidance on usage rights and storage best practice

Best suited for: DMO teams, tourism leads, marketing and communications staff, place brand officers

Planning and Commissioning Destination Shoots 

This Deliver strategic, multi-stakeholder visual content for campaigns, websites, and shared image libraries. 

Deep-dive session – Strategic visual content planning 

This session is aimed at those responsible for delivering photography or video shoots across a destination, including content for campaigns, websites, and shared libraries. 

Topics include: 

• Developing creative and technical briefs 

• Coordinating multi-stakeholder shoots and regional campaigns 

• Licensing, access, and partner sharing agreements 

• Building a consistent visual identity across assets 

Best suited for: 

• Destination managers, comms teams, and content leads delivering brand or campaign content 

Developing a Sustainable Tourism Action Plan: A Practical Guide

Turn ambition into action with a practical, place-based approach to sustainable tourism planning.

Lessons from Kent – turning ambition into action

This interactive 3-hour workshop is designed for destinations, local authorities and place leaders looking to create a realistic, effective Sustainable Tourism Action Plan. Based on Go To Places’ experience leading the development of Kent’s Sustainable Tourism Action Plan, this session shares real insights into what works, what’s hard, and how to keep momentum.

Grounded in the national guidance set out in VisitEngland’s Regenerative Tourism Framework, the session offers a clear structure for moving from strategy to action, even in complex local contexts. It’s practical, honest, and focused on helping destinations make meaningful progress, wherever they’re starting from.

What You’ll Learn

Drawing on the lessons from Kent’s Sustainable Tourism Action Plan, you will:

• Understand what a Sustainable Tourism Action Plan is and isn’t
• Explore the five pillars of regenerative tourism as set out by VisitEngland
• Identify practical ways to address climate, community and visitor challenges
• How to map local priorities, assets and partners
• Learn from GTP’s experience: how we engaged stakeholders, prioritised actions, and overcame internal barriers
• Get access to templates, planning tools and engagement materials

Best suited for:

• Local authority tourism, climate or regeneration officers
• Destination Management Organisation (DMO) staff
• National Landscapes and rural tourism leads
• Place partnerships and BID managers
• Consultants supporting destination or climate planning