Destination management resources

Managing city centres. Opening up the countryside. Getting more from the night-time. These resources provide guidance, best practice and case studies to help destinations realise their potential.

Below is a collection of resources from different organisations that could be useful to a Destination Manager.

VisitEngland's Business Advice Hub

The Business Advice Hub aims to help tourism businesses grow and provides free resources such as the Pink Book Online (legislation for tourist accommodation), Fire Risk Assessment tool, practical tips, toolkits and case studies. You can download a Communications Toolkit for the Business Advice Hub (Ppt, 2,670KB) to help promote it to your businesses.

City centre management

The Guidance on City Centre Management for Destination Managers (PDF, 4MB) offers best practice guidance from destinations around the country on working with city centre and town planning teams to develop the visitor economy.

Developing accessible destinations

See our case studies, guidance documents and other supporting resources on how to develop an accessible destination.

Final Mile best practice guidelines

Aimed at destination organisations, train operators and attractions, the Final Mile best practice guidelines are designed to provide helpful information and guidance on how to improve the connection between train stations and attractions, especially for overseas visitors.

Sustainable Tourism Marketing Toolkit

The Keep It Real marketing toolkit (PDF, 6MB) showcases examples of best practice in sustainable tourism across England, based on the principles of 'wise growth'.

Developed in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University, Keep It Real is a marketing toolkit for destinations at the forefront of sustainable tourism in England. Find out more about sustainability in our Business Advice Hub.

Welcoming coaches and groups

The Welcoming Coaches and Groups guidance (PDF, 3MB) provides tips and advice to help destinations meet the needs of coach tours and groups.

Travelling by coach is one of the easiest ways for groups to visit an attraction or destination. As well as providing a clean, comfortable and sustainable transport environment, a coach brings visitors in bulk, making it a vital element of local visitor economies. The guidance document gives destinations and travel trade organisations advice and examples for meeting the needs of coach tour groups and operators.

The evening and night-time economy

Night-time is a relatively untapped area of the visitor economy. The Association of Town Centre Management believes it could be worth up to £66 billion. The Evening and Night-Time Economy briefing (PDF, 1MB) gives an insight into the potential opportunities for British destinations.

Rural Tourism Business Toolkit

The Rural Tourism Business Toolkit is a series of easy-to-follow guides for new and existing tourism operators, helping them make the most of their offer and develop robust business processes.

It's designed to help with business evaluation, market identification, effective communication and marketing, and inspire great visitor experiences.

Guidelines for appointing tourism consultants

These guidelines have been produced by the Tourism Consultants' Network (TCN), a special interest section of the Tourism Society, and cover the use of consultancy services. Including finding and selecting a candidate, preparing a brief and tips on successful collaboration.

Download a copy of the Guidelines for Appointing Tourism Consultants PDF, 406KB).

Tourism Business Improvement Districts (TBIDS)

Learn more about how Tourism Business Improvement Districts (TBIDS) help local regions and the work of the Early Adopters Group.

TBIDs is a US-pioneered initiative designed to help finance the development of high-quality local tourism services through innovative funding models and partnerships.

The following documents give more information about how TBIDs work:

The TBIDs Early Adopters Group

The TBID Adopters Group focuses on the implementation of TBIDs in England and will directly liaise with and regularly brief a working party. The party’s remit is to consider a wider range of options for the future funding of tourism at a destination level. TBIDs represent just one future funding option to support the development of tourism locally. Read more about the TBIDS Early Adopters Group in its Terms of Reference (PDF, 135KB).

Further resources for destination managers

State Aid regulations for tourism

Information and presentations from the State Aid (regulation for tourism) Seminar

In early 2014, the EU Commission advised the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on a long-running State Aid complaint against the UK Government concerning certain tourism-related activities. As part of its obligations to the EU Commission, DCMS wrote to all destination organisations to provide information on the consequences of the complaint. This helped ensure destination organisations understood the impact of State Aid rules on their own operations and organisations.

Download the letter from the DCMS (PDF, 246KB). Any queries relating to the contents of the letter should be forwarded to Henry Fairbairn at the DCMS by email.

Visit the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) website or download the BIS Guidance note (PDF, 295KB) for further guidance on State Aid.

Seminar presentation

In addition to the written communications above, VisitEngland and DCMS delivered a seminar on State Aid laws in relation to tourism. This gave destination organisations a better understanding of any adjustments they might need to make in their local activities. View and download the seminar presentation (PDF, 970KB)

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