County-wide tourism expo launched

Visit Shropshire, Shropshire’s Destination Management Organisation, is organising a totally new event for anyone working in or owning a business in the tourism sector in the county.

As part of Shropshire Business Festival, the event will showcase the exciting plans for promoting Shropshire as a visitor destination in 2023 and beyond.

The event will be held at Wrekin College on March 28, from 12 to 3pm, and will feature:

• Visit Shropshire’s tourism marketing campaigns for the year ahead.
• The opportunity to meet suppliers & find training opportunities. This will include 15-minute bookable advice pods providing free business advice from a network of solicitors, financial advisors, and more
• Tourism expert speakers including Visit Britain and Shropshire Council
• Pointers for free training opportunities for business owners and their staff
•  Networking with other local tourism businesses and local food/drink providers
• The opportunity to meet the Visit Shropshire team to hear about the new marketing and joint-working opportunities coming soon.

Ed Thomas, chairman of Visit Shropshire, said: "Visit Shropshire is at an exciting stage of renewal and development, and the Visit Shropshire Tourism Expo will give us the opportunity to share the exciting plans for promoting Shropshire on a wider stage in the coming years.”

Mark Hooper, project lead at Visit Shropshire, said: “This will be the first time tourism businesses from across the county have been able to meet and share ideas and discuss the state of Shropshire’s tourism industry.

"Tourism in Shropshire is worth a massive £561 million and it contributes nine per cent of the total West Midlands tourism spend. Visit Shropshire wants to share their plans to build on this and continue to increase Shropshire’s reputation as a key visitor destination.”

The expo will be held in partnership with the Shropshire Business Festival - a business festival with a difference including live music, exhibitors, axe-throwing, lorry-driving activities, office-chair racing, marketing tips, virtual reality experiences, photography headshots, health & wellbeing zone, and street food.