In 2016, Visit Kent was awarded a €355,000 share of a project worth approximately €1.7 million involving 6 partners from the Belgian coast, Pas de Calais (France), Kent & Essex and Zeeland (Netherlands).
The PROFIT project took up the challenge of stimulating profitability in our tourism small business by identifying new ways of working together throughout our coastal destinations. Initially, the project took a snapshot of the DNA in each destination and worked with stakeholders on the findings. It consulted visitors and businesses on their experiences. It ran pilots to help small business understand and use the big data tools like larger companies do to understand consumer behaviour to take informed decisions at the right time for the future.
The PROFIT tourism awards held in Canterbury in December 2019 concluded the project that saw over 70 businesses in Kent benefiting from masterclasses in online communication and destination partnership working. A 1-2-1 coaching programme also took that culminated in 35 tourism action plans for Kent tourism businesses to help them focus their efforts. Keith Morrison, Managing Director from Solley’s Ice Cream, participated in the Profit Inspirations trip to the Netherlands and underlined how on his return how projects like these can be a game changer – have a listen to what he said. More information is available on our project website about all of the actions that took place in Kent over the last three years – please click here.
