Place and visitor economy

Drawing people to places, and showing it worked

For town and parish councils, local authorities, business improvement districts and destination bodies. We work out who could visit and why, run the campaigns and channels that bring them, give local businesses a fair way in, and report the result in a form a committee can scrutinise.

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20 min 10 min
Who it is for
  • Town and parish councils
  • District and county councils
  • Business improvement districts
  • Destination management and development organisations
  • Market towns and high streets
  • Events and attractions working with a council

We are not a traditional tourism agency. Our work has always been about drawing people to places: patients to a hospital or clinic, fans and participants to an event, businesses into a programme. A market town asks the same three questions. Who could come, what would make them come, and what makes the visit easy?

Public money needs a clear line from activity to outcome. Every campaign has a measure agreed up front, every post connects to an objective, and nothing is published without the council’s sign-off. Reporting is short, monthly and honest about what did not work.

What we do

How we help.

01

Catchment and visitor evidence

Drivetime and rail catchments, day-trip audiences and a baseline in month one, so the plan starts from who could realistically visit.

02

Destination marketing and campaigns

A year of seasonal campaigns across social media, the destination website, email and paid media, with content made in the place.

03

Destination websites

Fast, accessible What’s On, listings and visitor pages that the council and its partners can keep current.

04

Business request portals

One fair route for local businesses to submit events, offers and news, with council approval and a full audit trail.

05

Reporting and dashboards

A two-page monthly report and a live dashboard, built around the measures in the contract.

06

Plans and funding cases

Visitor economy strategies, annual marketing plans and evidenced cases for funding bids and committee decisions.

Proof

Work we have done.

All work
Housden Group · Public sector

NHS private patient units, run as a business

NHS Trusts sit on private patient units that under-serve the commercial opportunity, while still meeting the NHS obligation from the same estate.

What we did and the return

What we did. Working as part of Housden Group, we support PPU growth across multiple Trusts: insurer and referrer engagement, pathway and access design, and the commercial case.

The return. Private patient income grown inside the NHS framework, with PPUs run as a managed commercial operation.

Commercial strategy
Read the case
Eventmaster · Sport

Every ticket, more revenue

Ticketing was procured as a payment tool, generating a transaction and nothing after it.

What we did and the return

What we did. We built the strategy for its entry into the UK market, connecting ticketing to retail, fundraising and engagement, and optimised the pre-sale and post-event journey.

The return. Revenue captured before, during and after the event, across grassroots and non-elite events.

Commercial strategyDigital
Read the case
Leeds Beckett University · Universities & research

Research, made fundable

A new sport and health technology incubator with no route from research to funded delivery.

What we did and the return

What we did. We developed the business delivery plan through stakeholder engagement, knowledge development and delivery frameworks.

The return. A roadmap built to unlock funding and industry partnership around otherwise stranded research.

Commercial strategy
Read the case
Our product

A platform we built and run.

Founding places · 2027
20 min 10 min

Placeboard

Bring people in. Show it worked. One board for a town’s council, its businesses and its marketing: a fair route in for events and offers, approvals with an audit trail, a seasonal plan and a live results dashboard.

Explore Placeboard
Questions

Frequently asked.

Are you a tourism agency?

Not a traditional one, and we say so plainly. Our experience is in drawing people to places and services: patients to hospitals and clinics, fans and participants to events, and businesses into programmes. The method carries straight across: know the catchment, give people a reason to travel, and make the visit easy.

How do council approvals work?

Nothing is published without sign-off. The council has its own project portal with the plan, the approval queue, documents and reports, and every approval is logged with who gave it and when.

How can local businesses take part?

Through a request portal where any local business can submit an event, an offer or a piece of news. Each request is logged, checked against the council’s criteria and approved before it goes out, so every business has the same route in.

How do you report results?

A two-page report each month covering the headline numbers, what worked, what did not and next month’s plan, plus a live dashboard the council can open at any time. The measures are agreed at the start and tied to the contract objectives.

Do you meet public sector accessibility and data rules?

Websites are built to WCAG 2.2 AA, every image has alt text and every video has captions. Personal data is handled under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and we get written consent before using anyone’s photos or content.

Tell us the number you want to move

A first conversation is thirty minutes and costs nothing. Bring the outcome, the constraint and the date.

Start a conversationSee the work