SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
This agreement covers the financial year 2020/21 and specifies the minimum level of service that Welcome to Yorkshire will provide to City of York Council during that year.
Preamble
Welcome to Yorkshire (WTY) is the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for Yorkshire, promoting the county and its many cities, towns and rural areas as a destination to 'Visit, Work, Study and Live’. It does this in collaboration with York’s local DMO, Make it York (MIY), and the City of York Council (CYC), and this three-way collaboration is a key principle for the services outlined in this agreement.
Strategic Tourism Leadership & Engagement
Welcome to Yorkshire will provide strategic tourism leadership, interacting with the Tourism Minister, DCMS, Visit Britain, MPs, LEPs and Local Authority representatives from across the county. Creating a strong, co-ordinated Yorkshire.
For York:
• WTY CEO will meet quarterly with the relevant key officers and Chief Operating Officer of CYC (or their nominated representatives) and the Managing Director of Make it York to review progress and explore future opportunities
• Once each year, the WTY CEO and Area Manager will attend CYC’s Economy and Place Scrutiny Committee to review progress on this SLA
• WTY’s Area Manager for York will meet quarterly with the CYC Head of Economic Development and key staff from Make it York to review delivery and plan coming work
• WTY’s Area Manager will be an active member of York’s Tourism Advisory Board
• WTY will contribute their expertise as York develops its new Tourism Strategy in 2021
• WTY will continue its regular update bulletins – to share plans, what's coming next, board & CEO updates alongside ad hoc updates
Digital Marketing
City of York Council and Make it York will provide rich content and data for WTY to use in its digital campaigns.
WTY will provide exposure across all relevant digital marketing campaigns including Yorkshire.com and social media channels in line with York’s priorities as agreed by City of York Council.
• There will be destination pages on yorkshire.com to promote the key destinations within York, with Make it York providing regular refreshed content
• York, and York events and destinations, will feature in consumer e-news and WTY features on Yorkshire.com throughout the year
• WTY will use its social media channels to amplify messages provided by CYC and MIY
• WTY will promote York destinations and business tourism venues on yorkshire.com/venues, with content provided by MIY
• Where appropriate, digital WTY campaign assets to be developed with localised messages for use in CYC and MIY promotions
• MIY offers and events on will be promoted on yorkshire.com, where appropriate
Consumer Facing Marketing
Through collaboration WTY will:
• Deliver relevant activity to raise the profile of York and Yorkshire as a place to live, study, work and visit
• Use the key themes of Artistic, City Life, Events and Festivals, Sport, Outdoors, Family, Gardens, Delicious, Heritage, Culture to promote York and the relevant local destinations that are aligned
• Feature York destinations in the relevant sub regional pieces within WTY campaigns both online and within print.
• Where appropriate, develop WTY campaign assets with localised messages for use in Make it York and CYC promotions
PR
Welcome to Yorkshire’s PR team raises the profile of Yorkshire across regional, national and international media, including press, radio and TV. We will provide continued support with destination PR coverage for LAs, DMOs & NPs.
For York:
• Welcome to Yorkshire to create media interest in each specific destination as defined in collaboration with MIY and CYC
• Welcome to Yorkshire communications team to support dedicated activity to raise the profile of York and York destinations alongside the Yorkshire message such as:
• Opening of new attractions/venues
• Product development
• Good news stories
• Experiential activity
• All WTY press/trade familiarisation visitors will be offered the opportunity to include York and York destinations in their visit
• The WTY industry website will feature all relevant press releases uploaded by MIY and/or CYC
Data & Insights
As the regional tourism body for Yorkshire, we will keep LAs, DMOs and NPs updated with relevant tourism data and insights.
For York this will include:
• At least 4 updates per annum to MIY/CYC officers with domestic and international data via VB
• Regular (at least monthly) provision of relevant industry data and insight (inc Occupancy updates via VB)
• Quarterly reports on WTY consumer demographic data
WTY Event Support
WTY to provide support for both high profile events and smaller events and festivals in York where relevant and appropriate, as agreed by WTY, MIY and CYC.
This will be delivered, as set out above, via:
· Promotion of events on yorkshire.com
· Relevant and timely campaigns
· Consumer promotion (newsletter, website and social)
· Industry updates (newsletters, website and social)
Programme of work for York City Council to
be delivered in partnership with Make It York
As part of
their overall programme of work across the county and in return for
York’s financial contribution, WTY will specifically deliver
the following measurable activity:
Pages on yorkshire.com for key York visitor destinations as agreed with MIY and CYC. This will include:
• www.yorkshire.com/places/north-yorkshire/York
- Including a link to Visit York pages
- Including the opportunity for further themed subpages
- The white area on this page can also be amplified with the opportunity for further advertising
• 1 x tourism video - to include a max 3 days filming and editing
• At least 167 social media posts per annum - across all consumer and industry channels
• 4 Instagram story takeovers per annum
• 3 features and 4 side adverts in consumer e-newsletters per annum (database of 87k subscribers)
• 4 features in This is Y bi-monthly digital magazine per annum
• 2 features in the WTY industry e-newsletters per annum (database of 7k subscribers)
• WTY membership for your local authority owned attractions with access to enhanced profile on yorkshire.com and other marketing benefits
*Any digital assets created as part of this partnership will be jointly owned by WTY, City of York Council and Make it York
Evaluation of the Partnership
WTY will monitor and evaluate the success of the partnership by providing CYC and MIY with quarterly data on based on visibility and engagement York’s tourism offer, summarised in an annual report which will be considered by Scrutiny as defined above. This will offer an initial baseline and allow for enhanced measurement and the ability to where necessary set targets relevant to activity for future years.
Updates will cover:
• Campaign specific updates on performance and impact
• Quarterly reports on WTY website and digital engagement statistics and York destination content. Information will include:
• Report on full programme of works
• User website data - Yorkshire.com (with data specific to your destination pages)
• Social media reach statistics across all platforms
• Consumer and Industry newsletters
• Summary update identify high performing posts
• This is Y summary destination content update
• PR and communication