ONE of Ireland’s best-known travel writers and broadcasters has joined Cumbria Tourism.

Fionn Davenport has been assigned to head up a major project helping attract international visitors to world heritage sites across the North of England.

As part of the UK Government’s £40 million Discover England Fund, Tourism Minister Michael Ellis confirmed plans for Cumbria Tourism to lead the ‘Northern World Heritage Collection’ earlier this summer.

The new £250,000 project will tell the story of England’s culture and heritage through the North’s outstanding UNESCO World Heritage Sites and will enable Cumbrian businesses to better target both groups and independent travellers from the USA and Ireland.

Fionn has worked on two other Discover England Fund projects; one in conjunction with Marketing Manchester and a second targeting American visitors in the South of England.

As an experienced Lonely Planet writer, as well as a regular presence in the travel pages of Irish newspapers, he has a wealth of experience in travel journalism and has written guidebooks inspiring people to explore multiple destinations – from his native country to Vietnam.

He has also been a regular fixture on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1, sharing travel advice with the national radio station’s 1.4 million listeners.

Fionn’s latest role at Cumbria Tourism will involve working with fellow Northern World Heritage sites such as Liverpool and Durham, surrounding businesses and other tourism bodies over the next six months to help attract and welcome American and Irish visitors.

Activity will include business and itinerary development, training and trade shows, alongside marketing, online content, film and PR. It will also involve working alongside tour operators and agents to help visitors book their trips to multiple World Heritage sites across the North quickly and easily.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of this hugely exciting project," said Fionn. "Helping to raise awareness of Northern England’s rich cultural and natural patrimony is a privilege and something that I’m very proud to be associated with.

"I very much look forward to getting stuck in and working with all of relevant partners to bring more international visitors to this part of the country – especially those from my native Ireland!”

Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism, Gill Haigh, adds, “We are thrilled to welcome a travel expert of Fionn’s calibre to the team, to help both Cumbria and our Northern neighbours raise their profile on the global stage. For international visitors, World Heritage status has huge resonance and it’s vital that we work collaboratively with other key locations from across the North of England to attract higher-spending overseas tourists who want to tick World Heritage sites like Hadrian’s Wall and the Lake District off their list.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact Fionn Davenport: fdavenport@cumbriatourism.org / 07432 769573. Or Cumbria Tourism Press Office on: 01539 822222 / pressoffice@cumbriatourism.org

Cumbria Tourism is the county’s official Destination Management Organisation and is at the heart of the Cumbria Visitor Economy. It is also the largest membership organisation in Cumbria with 2,500 members. In 2017, more than 47 million people visited Cumbria, contributing more than £2.9 billion to the local economy and supporting almost 65,000 jobs.

About the Discover England Fund

• In November 2015, the Government announced a £40 million Discover England Fund; an unprecedented opportunity for English tourism. The Fund aims to deliver world-class bookable tourism products joined up across geographies and/or themes; including integrated transport solutions to provide an end-to-end customer experience.

• The Fund supports the growth of one of England’s most successful export industries, inbound tourism. Tourism is an industry that delivers jobs and economic growth across the English regions – contributing some £106bn each year to the economy and supporting 2.6 million jobs.

• The Fund supported a number of pilot projects in year one (2016/17) that tested product development approaches. In years two and three, 2017-19, the fund will support:

o A number of large-scale collaborative projects to be delivered over the two year period 2017-2019 that will create a step-change in bookable English tourism product for international consumers,

o A smaller funding pot for new one year pilot projects (in year two), and

o Continuation funding for existing year one projects that demonstrated early learnings (in year two).

o Year three of the fund (2018/2019) will also support new small scale projects as well as amplification projects that build on year one and two ‘test and learn’ pilots.