Frequently asked questions

What is Visit Devon?

Who runs Visit Devon?

What is an Area Tourism Partnership (ATP)?

Who is your ATP?

Why join?

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 about joining?

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 a public-private sector company and all funding and earnings go back into marketing Devon. The Board of Directors include private sector business leaders and representatives from the ATP's and three County groups - Devon Association of Tourist Attractions, Devon County Council and Devon Farms. Please click on the following links to read about the board and the Visit Devon team.

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)
• Heart of 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?

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 whichever ATP you like. It is the ATP that covers the geographical area in which your business is based that has administrative responsibility for your product data. For an approximate guide of the areas covered by each ATP please see the Devon map here.

Why join?

Membership of your Area Tourism Partnership and its association with Visit Devon allows you to promote your product on a regional, national and international stage through both the area website and VisitDevon.co.uk website and to directly benefit from local support services and Visit Devon and ATP marketing & PR activities.

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?

Your first point of contact will be your ATP. 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 joining?

Please contact your Area Tourism Partnership:

Dartmoor & West Devon www.dartmoor.co.uk/membership
Jess Whistance 01837 52200 jess@discoverdartmoor.com

English Riviera www.englishriviera.co.uk
01803 296296 dms@torbay.gov.uk

Heart of Devon 
www.heartofdevon.co.uk/membership
Claire Toze 01392 265209 claire.toze@exeter.gov.uk

North Devon+ 
www.northdevonplus.co.uk
Janet Herniman 01237 426426 jherniman@northdevonplus.co.uk

Visit Plymouth 
www.visitplymouth.co.uk
Clare Phillips 01752 306330 clare.phillips@plymouth.gov.uk

Visit South Devon 
Matt Donaldson 01803 864894 matt@visitsouthdevon.co.uk

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