Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance(DEMA)
November 2008 update
Following a competitive tendering process Leithal Thinking (part
of the Leith Agency) were appointed on the 16th October to provide
the evidence base for and formulation of the Destination Promotion
Strategy.
The Destination Promotion Strategy will be the critical building
block in defining the final form of the Destination Promotion
function. It will identify the key markets across live, invest,
visit and study, set out the propositions, and clarify the best way
to reach our target customers. It is anticipated that the
study will be concluded by the end of January which will then
enable the production of the business case/plan for DEMA to enable
a ‘soft’ launch of the Alliance in April 2009.
Over the past six weeks there have been a number of
stakeholder consultation and engagement meetings including:
- VisitScotland
- Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce (including a presentation to the
Tourism Policy sub group)
- Edinburgh International Conference Centre
- Edinburgh Convention Bureau (and presentation at members
event)
- EICB
- Alan Robertson, Jones Lang LaSalle
- Colin Paton, EPHA (Portland Hotels)
- Norman Springford EBA (Apex Hotels)
- Edinburgh Film Focus
- A presentation to the General Managers group of Edinburgh
Principal Hotels Association
- Derek McCulloch, Gillespie McAndrew
- Edinburgh Tourism Action Group Steering Group
- FestivalsEdinburgh
- Essential Edinburgh
- Scottish Enterprise
- Scottish Development International
- The international consortia of convention bureaux ‘Bestcities’
Tourism Forum
- The City of Edinburgh Council departmental representatives
& elected members
A City of Edinburgh Council Reference Group has also been
established.
The City Council’s Economic Development Committee on the 14
October 2008 agreed the restructuring of the Economic Development
service to include the bringing together of the activities of the
City Region Brand and DEMA into a Destination Promotion
function. This will also include the Economic Development
service tourism team. See below for relevant
papers.
This is a significant step by the Council which, by
rationalising its own services, aims to progress the agenda of
creating ‘clarity of common purpose’. Creating a ‘one-stop’
point of access for customers, minimising fragmentation and any
replication or duplication of promotional effort. The
Inspiring Capital Brand has always been identified as the consumer
facing aspect of the DEMA function
The easy read summary of the aims of the
project “DEMA Explained” has been finalised and has been circulated
to stakeholders.
For further information contact: kenneth.wardrop@edinburgh.gov.uk
