We have recently launched a range of online courses designed to help English tourism businesses and stakeholders enhance their expertise, harness opportunities and tap into new audiences and markets.
These courses are suitable for everyone in tourism, from front-line staff in accommodation and attractions to those working with Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs).
All courses are designed by VisitEngland specifically for LVEPs to share within their business communities, to grow and strengthen the visitor economy across all regions of England and help businesses become more internationally competitive.
New courses include:
Welcoming LGBTQIA+ Customers
As part of our commitment to building a more inclusive tourism industry, our new Welcoming LGBTQIA+ Customers course is designed to help businesses access their share of this valuable segment, worth £7.1 billion in domestic tourism alone.
The self-paced, interactive training includes guidance on:
Strategies and practical tips to be an inclusive tourism business
Real lived experiences from the LGBTQIA+ community
The value of this market to UK tourism
This course also includes proven strategies to create an inclusive and welcoming experience for all.
Exploring VisitEngland’s Accessibility Toolkit for Tourism Businesses
Recorded by toolkit author Emily Yates, this course comprises short introductory videos looking at our popular Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
The course takes users through the structure and practical tools within the toolkit to help them focus on the sections most relevant to their business, no matter where they are on their accessibility journey. It can also help them understand and address the barriers faced by customers with different impairments, effectively promote their accessibility information, become an inclusive employer and more.
With the spending power of disabled people (the “purple pound”) valued at £14.6 billion, the course is an invaluable tool to help tourism businesses access a share of this increasingly important market.
GCC Welcome
With visitor spending from the United Arab Emirates alone forecast to exceed £1 billion this year and set to reach £1.5 billion by 2030, our GCC Welcome e-learning course is aimed at Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) members who want to grow their offering and attract the GCC market.
The self-paced, one-to-two hour interactive course helps businesses to discover how to welcome high-value visitors from the region, covering trends, visitor expectations and personalised welcome strategies.
Taking England’s Wine Tourism to the World
With 42% of inbound visitors keen to have a wine tourism experience, according to VisitBritain research, we are supporting the growth of the English wine tourism industry with a new Wine Tourism course focussing on inbound travellers.
Developed in partnership with Wine GB, the course is designed to help businesses that provide a wine tourism product or visitor experience, such as wine tastings or vineyard tours, to attract more international visitors to their doors. The course will help businesses to understand the inbound tourism landscape, access customer insights, and get equipped with the skills and strategies to help them make the most of the opportunities available.
Taking England to the World
And last but not least, our long-running Taking England to the World training programme, which was originally developed for a classroom-based setting and webinar series, is now fully available online.
This comprehensive eight-hour e-learning course provides practical guidance on how businesses can raise their profile to international visitors and get a share of the inbound market. The course covers how to create world-class, bookable tourism experiences, understand the travel distribution system, and how to reach international markets.
Access them on the VisitEngland Academy Learning Portal.
