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Tunbridge Wells Common
town vista by David Hodgkinson
Business News
Business growth webinars
It is clear that adaption is a key priority for business success. These free webinars hosted by Chris Brant from Unmissable England and Visit Kent demonstrate this working with existing products or creating new revenue streams to operate both on and off-season, collaborating with others in and out of the sector, and reaching new audiences to recover and drive business growth.
We would love for you to join us in exploring the essential ingredients needed to develop an unmissable experience, identifying the opportunities for new experiences in Kent and hearing directly from various success stories that could spark a new idea, allowing you to reach new markets and increase the success of your business.
To really get us thinking of our own ideas to develop new experiential products for visitors, throughout the session we will host break out collaborative working sessions where you will work with like-minded businesses by utilising the collaborative interactive platforms of this new virtual world.
Register for as many of the sessions as you feel is relevant to developing your experiences:
Food & Drink; Landscape & Nature; Arts, Craft & Media; Culture; Wellbeing; Festivals & Events; Walking/Cyling aka Inspirational Journeys; The Unexpected Experience.
QR Check-In Codes
The check-in QR codes work with the new NHS app to help fight the spread of coronavirus. Register online to receive your official QR code digitally which you print off so that your clients can check in when they arrive. The venues which are required by law to display these are listed on the government website. Generally these are places where the dwell time for clients is significant, which wouldn't apply to take-aways or shops. There is more information from Kent Trading Standards.
A New Marketing Campaign - The Secret Garden of England
Visit Tunbridge Wells is participating in a collaboration alongside other Kent tourism services, Visit Kent and central government to encourage visitors to summer safely during this latter part of the season and into Autumn. Visit Kent has put together a comprehensive campaign called The Secret Garden of England including a beautiful new video to highlight the attraction of this county.
Visit Kent has provided a toolkit for businesses to get involved by sharing the video and messages on social media. The Visit Kent press release can be read here [pdf]. Have a look at the Visit Kent consumer landing page.
We hope you can share this across your channels to support the visitor economy in Kent along with us.
In order to collect client details, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued 5 simple steps to make this easy for you:
Ask for only what's needed
Be transparent about what you need and why
Carefully store the data in a secure manner
Don't use the data for anything else like mailing lists
Erase it securely
If you need more help, the ICO is available to answer your questions on 0303 123 1113.
Business Support for the tourism and hospitality sector during the COVID19 pandemic
TWBC has a range of guidance for businesses in the borough including specifically for food businesses wishing to diversify and for looking after closed premises. This is updated regularly. There is also a summary page of all the financial help that is available including furloughing. We regularly share timely information on our business Twitter account too - @TWBC_Business.
Along with other local authorities we are funding business advisers to help all sectors develop and implement personalised recovery plans. You can access this free programme through the Kent and Medway Growth Hub.
If you need urgent business help or advice, please call the business support hotline on 03333 602 300 Mon - Fri, 8.30am - 5pm.
We are communicating with tourism organisations like Visit Kent and Tourism South East to keep up to date with the latest.
Help with Marketing
In the meantime, Visit Kent has provided a toolkit for keeping our region in front of the visitors' eyes on social media. We are, as are they, of course sensitive to over-promotion and will keep the safety of the local population in mind.
The "new normal" webinar for the hospitality industry came to us free from ThreeSixtee via the South East Local Enterprise Partnership.
If you can share your new practices to reassure your clientele with us in the form of video or images then please do, tag us in on Facebook (@VisitTunbridgeWells) or on Instagram (TunbridgeWellsVisitor - consumer profile) and we can help spread the news.
Keep Tourism Going
Guidance for working safely is constantly being updated on the government's website.
Free webinars to learn how to adapt are available from Visit Kent, Visit Britain, Tourism South East and the Kent and Medway Growth Hub. Some also include how to's for Facebook and Instagram if you're not used to these for your business.
The Experience project is an exciting new EU funded scheme set up for businesses who have new ideas for rural well-being products to attract visitors beyond the summer season. At this time, diversification is key and this is an ideal support package to get your new products flying. Read more about it on our EU Interreg Experience page.
Business advice
If you are wondering how to start up or expand your tourism business, The National Centre for Micro-Business, approved by the Council and West Kent Partnership, provide a free expert business consultation. They will talk to you, in confidence, and help you put together a targeted plan including the vital cashflow plan and where to obtain funding if it available. To obtain more details please see their website. Highly recommended by other businesses.
Cybercrime
Cyberscams, online fraud, digital crime - these are all hot topics in business today. Central Government has provided funds to help microbusinesses tackle these worrying issues. Check the Cybercrime web page on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's web site. You will also find advice on what to do if your business is affected.
Grants For Your Business
For more information on growing your business, the TWBC website is helpful.
Business seminars and workshops
Information about free business support and advice workshops on the Council Business Support Events web pages including one-to-one advice to help you grow your business as well as advise new start ups.
