Speed Mentoring launch for English Tourism Week

Published - 25th Jan

Working with a team of industry specialists, a new concept ‘speed mentoring’ has been developed as part of the English Riviera’s contribution to English Tourism Week.

The launch will take place at the annual South Devon Tourism & Business Exhibition on Thursday 15th March. The Exhibition, which has been organised by the Riviera International Centre in partnership with the Tourism Company, Federation of Small Businesses and English Riviera Attractions Partnership will be taking place at the Riviera Centre. This event profiles the importance of tourism in South Devon, as part of English Tourism Week and offers tourism businesses, accommodation providers, attractions and services a great opportunity to network and find out as much as possible about events, activities and initiatives planned for 2012.

The ‘speed mentoring’ will be run by a selection of tourism industry specialists who will provide brief but focused advice and support on pertinent topics to those businesses attending - helping them to be better equipped to promote or develop their product.

“I think this is a great ideas as the sessions will provide quick and focused pieces of information delivered by experts, which is important for busy business owners who want to learn more but often don’t have the time to attend workshops and courses, said Jenny Thompson Operations Manager. “I’m really pleased to have secured these industry leaders as they have extensive experience and proven track records to talk to our businesses, and importantly, they are people who want to give their time to support our event and English Tourism Week.”

Leading the speed mentoring initiative is Maureen McAllister, former Director of South West Tourism and tourism lead for England’s RDA’s who is now running her own tourism consultancy and working with leading destinations and tourism business in the public and private sector. Maureen is joined by Deirdre Makepeace of Makepeace Marketing, Paul Haydon and Di Goffey of South West Research Company, Ben Duhig from Bluesoup Communications, Colin Spencer Halsey from Beacon South West and James Harper of JIH Communications.

“After years of working in the public sector and encouraging private businesses to get involved in this type of initiative, I’m now enjoying being in a position to be actively involved myself, said Maureen McAllister from McAllister and Co. “To give support to those businesses who go the extra mile, who want to be involved and who understand the importance of tourism to the local economy is great, and we think that delivering our mentoring in this way will not only be a valuable tool but fun too!”

The speed mentoring concept brings together expertise and skills in one business improvement package which will enable tourism businesses to focus on those areas and stand out from the crowd.

For more information about the South Devon Tourism Exhibtiion click here or call Jenny Thompson on 01803 206307.