A new regional partnership, Visit East Midlands, has been launched with the ambitious goal of increasing the East Midlands visitor economy by £1 billion by 2035. This initiative seeks to attract more visitors, encourage longer stays, and boost spending across the region.
The partnership unites the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), local authorities, destination organisations, and businesses. Its aim is to provide the region with a stronger collective voice, attract new audiences, and support the growth of tourism and hospitality businesses. The new website and partnership were officially launched by the Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, at Nottingham Castle on Wednesday, 14 October.
Mayor Claire Ward stated, “Today marks an exciting step forward as we bring our partners together with a shared ambition to showcase the very best of the East Midlands. When I stood for Mayor, I promised to put the East Midlands back on the map as a place to visit. From the Peak District and Sherwood Forest to our cities, market towns, heritage, culture, and world-class sporting venues, we have an incredible story to tell and so much for people to discover. By working together, we can tell that story more effectively and make it easier for people to explore more of the East Midlands. We want visitors to stay longer, spend more, and discover brilliant places they might not otherwise have considered. We have set ourselves an ambitious target of growing the visitor economy by an additional £1bn by 2035. By working together and telling more people what makes the East Midlands special, we can attract new visitors, create opportunities for local businesses, and make sure communities across our region benefit.”
The Visit East Midlands website will serve as a central hub for the region’s visitor economy, consolidating research, sector data, investment opportunities, funding programmes, and practical resources for businesses. It will highlight the East Midlands’ collective strengths, including its landscapes, heritage, culture, and sporting venues. This platform will complement existing destination websites such as Visit Nottinghamshire, Visit Derby, and Visit Peak District & Derbyshire, which will continue to promote individual locations and experiences.
Jo Dilley, managing director of Visit Peak District & Derbyshire, commented, “Tourism is a vital part of our local economy, contributing £3.58bn to the Peak District and Derbyshire and supporting thousands of jobs and businesses across our communities. Visit East Midlands provides an exciting opportunity to build on the strength of our individual destinations, working collaboratively to raise the profile of the wider region, attract new audiences, and encourage more visitors to stay longer and spend more. Crucially, the Partnership will help champion the visitor economy as a key growth sector, attracting the investment and funding needed to support the diverse mix of businesses that make up our industry and deliver the ambitious growth targets set out in EMCCA’s Growth Plan. By showcasing the diversity of our offer, from our outstanding landscapes and heritage to our vibrant towns, culture, and experiences, we can create more opportunities for tourism businesses and drive sustainable growth across the East Midlands.”
Megan Powell Vreeswijk, chief executive officer of Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire, including Visit Nottinghamshire, added, “Nottingham and Nottinghamshire have an incredible story to tell. From our legendary heritage and vibrant city to Sherwood Forest, our historic market towns, world-class sporting venues, culture, and creativity, we have so much to offer visitors from across the UK and around the world. Being part of Visit East Midlands gives us an exciting opportunity to elevate our offer as part of a bigger, stronger regional voice. By bringing together the distinctive strengths of our destinations, we can reach new audiences, raise our collective profile, and encourage visitors to discover more of what our region has to offer. As the Local Visitor Economy Partnership for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, our visitor economy contributes £2.53bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the region, and we recognise the importance of building on this with the expertise, established relationships, and successes of our individual destinations, while working collaboratively to unlock opportunities that would be harder to achieve alone. This ambition is about more than attracting visitors. It is about encouraging longer stays, supporting our businesses, attracting major events and conferences, creating jobs and investment, and ensuring that the benefits of a thriving visitor economy reach communities across our city, county, and wider region. We are proud of what Nottingham and Nottinghamshire contribute to the East Midlands, and equally excited by what we can achieve together. Through this partnership, we have an opportunity to put our destinations on an even bigger stage and turn our shared ambition into lasting economic growth.”
The launch supports EMCCA’s new Visitor Economy Strategic Framework, which outlines how partners will collaborate to achieve the £1bn growth target over the next decade. Key priorities include enhancing visitor experiences and facilities, attracting more domestic and international visitors, developing necessary business skills, and improving travel connectivity between destinations. A significant focus will be placed on increasing overnight stays, with a target to raise them from approximately 8 million to 12 million annually by 2035.
The framework also aims to leverage the East Midlands’ strong connections to film and television, referencing locations like Chatsworth House (Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice) and Wollaton Hall in Nottingham (Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises). Promoting these sites could attract more fans, and a proposed regional screen office could support the local creative industries and attract productions. Further opportunities lie in building on the region’s strengths in conferences, events, international tourism, and sport to attract new audiences and investment.
Current 2024 estimates indicate that the visitor economy across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire generates £5.48bn in direct visitor spending annually, supports around 55,700 full-time equivalent jobs, and attracts approximately 8 million overnight stays and over 70 million day trips. Visit East Midlands will provide a shared platform for partners to elevate the region’s profile, assist tourism and hospitality businesses in capitalising on new opportunities, and distribute the benefits of tourism more widely across communities in the East Midlands.
