I take great pride in the job that I do and also the ancillary projects and boards I am involved with.
One of these is the Visit Rotherham initiative. Due to the cuts in funding through local councils, some have had to make the unfortunate decision to cut tourism officers and these departments.
Following a discussion I had with a local hotel I decided that through my work, we could reignite the tourism offering for Rotherham, with investment and goodwill from the private sector, build a website to showcase what the town has to offer to both local residents and to visitors. This would enable local hotels to trade with restaurants and attractions to keep people in the town for more than just a flying visit.
Visit Rotherham was born from a tourism forum meeting and has quickly developed. The concept is to showcase the attractions, leisure, tourism and independent retail offering of the borough. As you read this, I am in the process of string up Visit Rotherham as a Charity. The idea behind this is to allow us to raise money and obtain funding to support local events, clubs and initiatives that will aid Rotherham and build it as a tourist destination and aid the visitor economy.
From big attractions like Magna and Wentworth Woodhouse to the small ones like Aston Springs Farm and The Butterfly house, there is so much to do in Rotherham and not even the local residents know of some of these.
Did you know these facts about Rotherham:
Did you know that the Chapel of Our Lady on Rotherham bridge is one of only a few Bridge Chantries surviving today!
Did you know that Wentworth Woodhouse is the largest private home in the UK and has the longest country house façade in Europe!
Did you know that Rotherham is home to the largest Bagel factory in Europe!
Coming soon we will have an events listing on the site. This will be a central calendar of events that are happening in the town and a comprehensive list of things to do!
The message we are trying to spread is one of positivity. Through the high profile success of both The Titans and Rotherham United, more and more visitors are coming to our town. We don’t want them to just come for a game. Why not see the game, stay over, try one of our local restaurants, visit an attraction then go home and spread the word.
The town centre has a superb independent retail offering on the High Street and there are the regional centres in Wath, Swinton, Mexborough, Wickersley and many more who have an equally broad offering of independent retail, restaurants and bars!
We need more local businesses to buy into this project. It is free to go onto the site and register your business on the database! I would encourage any business who wants FREE promotion to do this at www.visitrotherham.com
At this point as well I would like to publically thank a couple of people for their help with the. Firstly Chris Harpin at Expert Web for their help with the website and secondly Steve Mehdi who is the artist behind the Man of Steel Project for the use of the image in our branding.
Please search and follow us on Social Media at:
Facebook.com/visitrotherham
And on Twitter at
@VisitRotherham
Until Next Time…
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