Background
The historic county of Kent is located in the South East of England between London and the Continent. Renowned for its rural beauty and historically known as the ‘Garden of England’, its spectacular coastline and powerful white cliffs sit majestically on the English Channel, where Kent has been poised at the strategic gateway of Britain for centuries, not only repelling invaders but welcoming visitors and commerce.
The public authorities in Kent have long recognised the important role of the visitor economy in the regeneration agenda in Kent. Kent’s visitor economy is worth over £2.5 billion and supports over 50,000 jobs. The creation of new structures to support the development of tourism in Kent began in 2002 with a review of tourism and a major cross channel market study. The results showed that Kent’s visitor economy was changing, and led by Eurotunnel, a number of leading visitor attractions, Kent County Council (KCC), Medway Council and the District Councils formed a new structure, which for the first time placed the marketing of Kent as a visitor destination into the hands of a private/public sector company called the Kent Tourism Alliance (KTA).
KTA was a public private sector partnership, ‘not for profit’ company based in Canterbury, whose remit covers the marketing of Kent as a visitor destination. Responsibility for research, training and development continues to rest with KCC. The development of Kent’s visitor economy has been supported since 2002 through an in house team at KCC which focuses on tourism product regeneration/development, skills and industry performance and research to support marketing decisions.
Since 03 April 2008, KCC’s tourism function and the Kent Tourism Alliance (KTA) have been jointly known as Visit Kent.
Please click here to find out more about Visit Kent's Canterbury arm, Visit Kent Ltd.
Please click here to find out more about Visit Kent's team at Kent County Council in Maidstone.
All of the Kent Districts (or their destination partnerships) with a tourism remit and Medway are investors in Visit Kent and this model is regarded nationally as an excellent example of two tier working. Visit Kent works closely with Tourism South East, Enjoy England and VisitBritain to promote Kent as an important regional visitor destination.
A major consultation and governance review has recently been undertaken and as a result a new stakeholder-led 3-year business plan will be launched in 2008 along with a 10-year product development vision for Kent’s visitor economy.