Devon Break Bank Holiday Records
How better to spend your bank holiday Monday than relax on the beaches of Devon, the temptation of the warm weather certainly got a lot of us to get out our shorts, hats and sun cream and head to the shore. Devon saw a large amount of tourists flock to their shores which are on track to spend £35 million in the county and its all down to the great weather recently and of course a little bit down to the appeal of the county as well.
Tourism is an important and leading industry in Devon and its very good news because this August’s bookings are up by 20% on last Augusts. Visit Devon are also encouragaing this in their own way, the growing trend for people to Staycation instead of going abroad is one that they are fully welcoming with open arms, they are encouragaing people to holiday at home so that you can experience everything Devon has to offer. Devon have been majorly successful in promoting the county as a staycation location as they are encouragaing people to visit them all year round.
Another form of promotion Visit Devon have been using is through social media where they have been promoting an app called “what have you been up to this summer” which allows videos to be shared on the Visit Devon website, the app is designed to increase the number of visitors to the region by showcasing the county through peoples personal experiences.
Recently Visit Devon where hit by a setback when their budgeting was cut, the future of Devon’s tourism industry at this point looked very bleak. The county however pulled together and tourism partners all helped Visit Devon to continue and keep the brand alive, shortly after then there has been this massive increase so the initial scare is over with the whole county working together it looks like the industry is delivering.
Carolyn Custerson has said “It is fantastic that Devon has had such a strong summer season this year. The weather has helped enormously but we must now drive home the message that this is a county to visit across the year. Tourism jobs are more critical to Devon than many other counties and we believe it’s time for much more investment to enable us to optimise the legacy of this Summer and to secure our advantage still further.”