Name: The Business of Tourism: Place, Promotion and the High Street
Start: 2026-02-09T18:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-09T19:30:00+00:00
Location: 17 Military Rd

The Business of Tourism: Place, Promotion and the High Street

Explore how tourism and place marketing shapes footfall and spend, with panels and roundtables for Thanet high street businesses.
About this Event

Tourism and Place Marketing is a 90-minute business-focused event designed to help high street and town centre businesses better understand, influence and benefit from the way Thanet’s towns are marketed to visitors.

Tourism strategies, place branding and media narratives shape who visits our towns, when they come and how they spend. Yet many businesses have limited visibility of how these decisions are made, or how they can plug into them. This session puts businesses at the centre of the conversation, bringing tourism leads, local media and town stakeholders into the room to listen, share insight and explore opportunities for closer alignment.

The event will begin with a short panel discussion featuring:

Paul Harbridge, Head of Tourism, Thanet District Council
Lila Allen, Editor, Ramsgate Recorder

The panel will focus on:

How tourism and place marketing decisions impact high street businesses
What tourism teams and media need from businesses to promote towns effectively
How businesses can align offers, storytelling and activity with visitor campaigns
The role of local identity, events and experiences in driving footfall and spend

Following the panel, businesses will take part in facilitated roundtable discussions, grouped by town. Tourism and place stakeholders will join these tables to support open, practical conversations focused on:

What businesses want and need from tourism and place marketing
How towns can better showcase their independent high streets
Improving communication between businesses, towns and tourism teams
Identifying simple, realistic actions that support both footfall and trading

The session is designed to be practical, conversational and grounded in the realities of running a business on the high street. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how tourism and place marketing connects to their business, and how stronger collaboration can support thriving town centres.

Who should attend:
Independent retailers, hospitality and visitor economy businesses, high street traders and town centre businesses. Tourism teams, town representatives and place partners are invited to attend as contributors to the discussion.