Frequently asked questions
What is Visit Devon?
Who runs Visit Devon?
What is an Area Tourism Partnership (ATP)?
Who is your ATP?
Why a joint commercial membership scheme?
Why the change from South West Tourism?
Who do I contact on a day to day basis, is it Visit Devon or my ATP?
Who can I contact for more information on the Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme, before I join?
I have a hotel and a restaurant; can I promote my business under both of these search categories?
I am already a member of the old South West Tourism scheme, can I join the new scheme?
When can I join the Joint Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme?
What sorts of benefits can I receive by joining the Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme?
What are the costs for a yearly subscription?
What is Visit Devon?
Visit Devon is the new marketing body responsible for selling Devon to the world. Visit Devon is the county's official tourism body, and its aim is simple - to increase the number of visitors to Devon and the amount of money spent by promoting the county as a year around quality visitor destination. As you'll be aware tourism is a key driver of the economy and annually Devon welcomes 46.2m visitors spending £2.3bn in an industry that supports over 50,000 jobs.
We seek to promote the breadth and depth of the Devon offer for the purposes of leisure and business tourism which includes marketing the county as a short break and holiday destination, as a meetings and conference location and by making the most of existing and new events.
Who runs Visit Devon?
Visit Devon is private sector led and every penny that is earned from trading and earned income goes back into marketing Devon. There are 15 directors including private sector business leaders, representatives from ATP's and three County groups - Devon Association of Tourist Attractions, Devon County Council and Devon Farms. The executive team is lead by Nicola Poultney as CEO.
What is an Area Tourism Partnership (ATP)?
Devon is the third largest county and some areas of the county have been well served with local tourism organisations. 2008/9 sees the creation of six companies across the county, who are responsible for the day to day contact with Devon's tourism industry, and who work with Visit Devon to ensure that Devon's tourism products are well represented on the appropriate official tourism websites.
The six ATP's in Devon are:
- Dartmoor ATTP & West Devon (Dartmoor & West Devon)
- English Riviera Tourist Board (Torbay)
- Exeter & Essential Devon (Exeter, Mid Devon, East Devon and parts of Teignbridge)
- North Devon+ (North Devon & Exmoor)
- Visit Plymouth (Plymouth)
- Visit South Devon (South Devon)
The professional and committed team at Visit Devon seeks to market the breadth and depth of the Devon leisure and business tourism offer by working closely with the county's six Area Tourism Partnerships (ATPs). These organisations manage the day to day relationships with you, Devon tourism businesses. It is through the ATPs that Visit Devon ensures that tourism businesses reap the benefits of a first class marketing infrastructure which creates new visitors to the county and provides quality visitor servicing and fulfilment.
Who is your ATP?
When you join Visit Devon you also join whichever ATP you wish to. The ATP's cover different geographical areas, and offer a range of different benefits and marketing opportunities, and will have varying staffing levels. You are free to join as many ATP's as you want. There is a discount available for joining the scheme with two different ATP's. It is the ATP that covers the geographical area in which your business is based that has administrative responsibility for your product data.
Why a joint commercial membership scheme?
Membership of Visit Devon is a commercial decision; we aim to give you a bottom line return on your investment. We believe that the joint Visit Devon & ATP membership was to be able to offer a complete package of services to anyone who joined, both locally and county wide, allowing communication to flow across the county, creating a successful, knowledgeable product to promote.
Why the change from South West Tourism?
In April 2008 the face of tourism in Devon changed. South West Tourism, the body that had been responsible for selling the region, became a smaller strategic organisation funded by the South West of England Regional Development Agency.
South West Tourism is no longer a membership organisation.
These changes came about as a result of the Regional Tourism Strategy, "Towards 2015", which concluded that the visitor experience is ultimately delivered at "destination level". These changes saw the creation of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) throughout the South West and the streamlining of the wide variety of methods and structures involved in supporting and promoting tourism enabling professional destination management and targeted marketing.
Destination Devon Ltd began trading as Visit Devon in April 2008 - and from that date former members of South West Tourism have been members of Visit Devon and, depending on where they are located, also a member of their local Area Tourism Partnership.
Since April 2008 we paid South West Tourism to manage our membership renewals on our behalf until the Area Tourism Partnerships were up and running and until Visit Devon had its membership team in place.
Who do I contact on a day to day basis, is it Visit Devon or my ATP?
Once you are a member your first point of contact will be your ATP. You will be contacted by your local ATP once your membership fee has been paid, together with full contact details. It is the ATP that has administrative responsibility for entering/editing your product data in the database.
Who can I contact for more information on the Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme, before I join?
You can find all of the information that you require here in the membership area by clicking here
Alternatively you can contact the Visit Devon membership team or your local ATP.
Our contact details are as follows:
Membership Team
Visit Devon
Matford Business Centre
Waterbridge Court
Matford Park Road
Exeter, Devon
EX2 8ED
Tel: 01392 332828
Email: membership@visitdevon.co.uk
Contacts for the ATPs are:
Dartmoor & West Devon Jess Whistance 01837 52200 jess@discoverdartmoor.com
English Riviera Rebekah Snell 01803 296296 dms@torbay.gov.uk
Exeter & Essential Devon Victoria Hatfield 01392 265104 victoria.hatfield@exeter.gov.uk
North Devon+ Sarah Steptoe 01237 426426 ssteptoe@northdevonplus.co.uk
Visit Plymouth Clare Phillips 01752 306330 clare.phillips@plymouth.gov.uk
Visit South Devon Michelle Taylor 01626 215605 mtaylor@teignbridge.gov.uk
I have a hotel and a restaurant; can I promote my business under both of these search categories?
You can display your product in two different categories. You would receive the same benefits for both products. We do offer a 20% discount on the lowest priced category, if you were to join and make the payment in one transaction, as we are able to save on this part of the administration.
I am already a member of the old South West Tourism scheme, can I join the new scheme?
We will automatically invite you to join the new scheme on your renewal date as you are unable to renew with South West Tourism as they no longer run a membership scheme.
When can I join the Joint Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme?
You can join at any time. Membership is done on a rolling year, so the prices you see are the prices you pay, whichever time of year that you join.
What sorts of benefits can I receive by joining the Visit Devon & ATP Commercial Membership Scheme?
As a joint membership we can offer a wealth of benefits offering promotion on a local, county, national and international platform. Please click here and select your choice of ATP to see the benefits available to you.
What are the costs for a yearly subscription?
We understand that cost is important to all businesses and so we always keep our costs to the lowest price possible, whilst also enabling us to provide you with a useful service and invaluable marketing for Devon. Please click here and follow the link to your choice of ATP for more information.
Dartmoor Partnership (Dartmoor & West Devon)
English Riviera Tourist Board (Torbay)
Exeter & Essential Devon (Exeter, Mid Devon & East Devon)
North Devon+ (North Devon & Exmoor)
Visit Plymouth (Plymouth)
Visit South Devon (South Devon)
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