Visitor Economy and Tourism Strategy Manager

Our benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
• Cycle to Work scheme. 
• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
• Car Lease scheme
• Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
• Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
• Ongoing training and development opportunities.
• A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
• Our West Ways of Working – We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
• Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.

About the role

This is an exciting time to join our Economic Growth & Inward Investment service! We’re a relatively new local authority, created in April 2021. We’re at the beginning of our journey of shaping what the Economic Growth & Inward Investment service looks like at West Northants Council, so there is plenty of opportunity to develop processes, and shape our offering so we can provide the best possible service to our local businesses and residents, as part of the wider Communities & Opportunities directorate.

We are seeking a determined and creative individual to join our dynamic service here at West Northamptonshire Council. We are looking to recruit a variety of new roles as part of our enhanced new Economic Growth & Inward Investment Service and the Visitor Economy & Tourism Strategy Manager will play a key role in leading and managing the Visitor Economy & Tourism Strategy Team. It is the perfect time to join as we amplify our activities and establish a new strategy for the service.

West Northamptonshire is a place of huge opportunity, world renowned skills, and locational advantage. We in the Economic Growth & Inward Investment Service are at the forefront of capitalising on these strategic assets and establishing new opportunities for growth. Working innovatively, we are proactive in our approach to supporting and growing the local economy with a strong focus on the following areas:

• Tourism & the Visitor Economy
• Business Growth
• Inward Investment & Place Marketing
• Skills & Employment
• Funding Programmes & Projects

Home to over 20,000 businesses and more than 425,000 residents, the value of West Northamptonshire's economy (GVA) was valued at around £11.5bn in 2022, supporting around 214,700 jobs. In addition, around 20m visitors flock to the area each year, generated over a £1bn and supporting 14,000 jobs. We want to support and grow the local economy, meaning that our Team must establish a high-profile reputation across the world that West Northants is a place where everyone can thrive, supporting businesses & attractions to locate & grow here, upskilling the local labour market and ensuring there are opportunities for all. We must showcase West Northants as a destination for tourism, investment, business and quality of life.

This role will be essential in showcasing West Northamptonshire as a destination for visitors, leading on the implementation of the Northamptonshire Tourism Strategy and the establishment of a Local Visitor Economy Partnership.

What will you be doing?

You will be responsible for driving the delivery of the Northamptonshire Tourism Strategy for West Northamptonshire Council, including the establishment and involvement of a county-wide Local Visitor Economy Partnership, promoting the tourism & visitor economy. This includes ensuring the opportunities and potential to develop the visitor economy are maximised in West Northamptonshire, including enhancing existing assets and developing new opportunities, delivering maximum benefit to the local authority, driving visitor numbers and local spend.

You will work with colleagues within the wider Economic Growth & Inward Investment service to ensure the visitor economy is a recognised growth sector and support initiatives to enhance this industry and create opportunities with the Inward Investment & Business Growth Team and the Funding & Programmes Team.

You will lead a dynamic team to capitalise on opportunities to showcase West Northamptonshire as a destination to visit time and time again on a global stage. You’ll take a lead in a multi-agency approach working with departmental teams, external businesses/attractions, stakeholders and partners such as Visit England to maximise the success rate of the service, to improve the visitor economy, resulting in increased visits and value of visits, increased inward investment, more jobs and greater GVA.

You will be taking the reins on driving the visitor economy for West Northamptonshire, effectively working with stakeholders and partners as necessary to deliver largescale initiatives and activities that provide tailored business support to local attractions whilst attracting new businesses/attractions into the area. You will act as a driving force for all areas of the visitor economy including place marketing, business support, promoting the industry, upskilling the local workforce and establishing a collaborative approach to benefit residents and visitors.

You will manage your team to deliver high quality outcomes and work in partnership with the wider service and other services to enhance existing activities as well create opportunities for new activities to increase footfall and spend, including overnight and international visitors.

Utilising the local strengths in heritage, sporting excellence, events management, culture and more, you will deliver activities in line with the community that promote the unique selling point of West Northamptonshire and the wider County to boost the local visitor economy.

Each day will look slightly different and you’ll be able to get involved in various projects across the directorate, including opportunities for CPD and to share best practice. You will be involved with the creation of a new Economic Growth & Inward Investment strategy and will input into the processes to manage and oversee business growth enquiries and stakeholder engagement.

About you

We’re looking for an expert in the field with proven experience & skills, able to drive and lead initiatives to enable economic growth and make a significant contribution to tourism and the visitor economy. You will be well versed in the background relating to Local Visitor Economy Partnerships and have experience working with Destination Management Organisations and securing support and funding relating to tourism. You will be passionate about working innovatively to showcase West Northamptonshire as the perfect destination for visitors, combining creativity with finely honed project management skills to achieve tangible outcomes.

You will be a charismatic manager, able to support your team to deliver a range of successful initiatives and projects to deal with highly specialised issues relating to the visitor economy and business growth. You will be highly capable and experienced in order to contribute to the strategic development of the service.

Exceptional interpersonal and collaboration skills are key. We are also looking for significant experience of working with a range of internal and external partners and forging successful partnerships alongside account management to achieve high performance and significant, sustainable accomplishments for the service.

You’ll need to have a solutions driven and adaptable approach to working, thrive in a busy environment with a positive approach to challenges!

Ideally you will have previous experience of facilitating business growth within a local authority, with experience of project management, place-marketing and an understanding of the commercial landscape. You will be able to smoothly manage and develop a pipeline of enquiries, handling all relevant processes whilst being able to use your own initiative to 'think outside of the box’. You’ll use your great attention to detail to ensure our activities are innovative, creative and achieve high level results.

Finally, your knowledge of achieving economic growth initiatives will be utilised as part of the wider service, showing your ability to thrive as a team player as well as lead on projects relating to business growth. You will combine sales and marketing experience, along with expert knowledge to champion business growth and investment in the area.

About us

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. 

Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU  

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential.  We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.