hi there, im new to these boards but have been living in Sheffield for 4 years now as im a student at uni here

the reason why i posted this is because we are doing a marketing communications report for my degree and it relates to Sheffield city council trying to gain more tourists in the city

the basic jist of the brief is that Sheffield are trying to generate business all round when the sporting events aren't on (snooker etc) through promoting themselves as an urban hot spot

it says that we are in the top 10 UK hotspots for conferences and leisure brakes and in the top 3 for sporting and festival like events.

we are trying to tap into the short-brake weekend market and using the peaks, sporting facilities, industrial heritage and its reputation as a city of sport to increase tourism.

we only have £280k to spend on the marketing, and we will possibly be working with a lot of private sector organisations such as hotels and restaurants to get their help along the way (possible financial contributions etc) and maybe some government/eu funding too.

I want to know peoples views on any related issues, why they think people visit Sheffield, how good is it as an urban weekend away, what don't you like about Sheffield in terms of tourism, are the facilities well advertised outside the city (websites etc)

just any general comments too please, the bit im looking into is e-communications, another reason why I thought posting on here would be appropriate!

may thanks

Martyn hunter

m2rv_h@hotmail.com

few other things:

whats your views on the level of disables access, the levels of publicied material available around sheffield and the general message and words assosiated with "sheffield" to people outside the city

cheers again!

The first thing they need to do if they want to promote sheffield is increase the number of hotel rooms available, sheffield has the lowest number of hotel rooms for a city its size in the entire country.

Originally posted by Scottandandy
The first thing they need to do if they want to promote sheffield is increase the number of hotel rooms available, sheffield has the lowest number of hotel rooms for a city its size in the entire country.

very true, would you also say that the number/quality of restaurants in the city centre is pretty pants?

and from personal experience they need to sort out the roads as its VERY hard to get about if you have never driven here before (i come from a small town so none of this ring road nonsence!!)

Originally posted by Scottandandy
The first thing they need to do if they want to promote sheffield is increase the number of hotel rooms available, sheffield has the lowest number of hotel rooms for a city its size in the entire country.

And one of the lowest Average rates as well, hence the lack of investment in hotel rooms.

i take it your from sheffield, do you any ideas assosiated with sheffield in terms of what they belive the city to be stereotypically known for or assossiated with?

i think the hotel situation will pick up once the macdonald is completed and i think St Paul's place on the whole will bring big improvements to the city's reputation. As for restauraunts etc i think sheffield really seems to be improving fast with places like london road sure to have something that takes your fancy. Also looking forward to seeing how the crystal bar/restauraunt turns out.

Originally posted by jazz
i think the hotel situation will pick up once the macdonald is completed and i think St Paul's place on the whole will bring big improvements to the city's reputation. As for restauraunts etc i think sheffield really seems to be improving fast with places like london road sure to have something that takes your fancy. Also looking forward to seeing how the crystal bar/restauraunt turns out.

which was the 5 star one being built that has been downgraded to 4 and caused a lot of outcry? might have been the novatel

The lack of decent bars in sheffield is also very shocking- i was out in nottingham a few weeks ago and the number of DECENT bars is x10 what we have here- when i say decent i mean places like Hush bar and bar matrix- new developments when nice interiors- not places like the cav and varsity.

Originally posted by m2rv_h
which was the 5 star one being built that has been downgraded to 4 and caused a lot of outcry? might have been the novatel

thats the same hotel. I heard it was due to the lack of car parking that it was downgraded to a 4 star. There was a lot of criticism because it will block views of the winter garden from the peace gardens but the council went ahead claiming that they needed the revenue from the hotel if the whole project was to bear no burden on the tax payer.

It will still be a valuable asset to the city in attracting conferences and people on short beaks and hopefully will pave the way for more hotels

Originally posted by jazz
thats the same hotel. I heard it was due to the lack of car parking that it was downgraded to a 4 star. There was a lot of criticism because it will block views of the winter garden from the peace gardens but the council went ahead claiming that they needed the revenue from the hotel if the whole project was to bear no burden on the tax payer.

Thats a load of bull- to keep them running the council said it would cost an extra £1 per year on everyone's council tax- i thought that sounds very reasonable- i would have preffer to do that rather than have that ugly hotel in the way.

I know many family and friends who to travel to Sheffield and surrounding areas due to the fantastic countryside we have at our doostep. Excellent for a variety of walks/bike rides/drives etc.

The big problem I have with Sheffield is the weekend shopping, we need a proper regular Sunday market down Fargate and around the Peace gardens. This would hopefully in turn persuade the shops to open on Sundays too. We could then have various events happening around the city centre and start attracting more and more people there.
As it stands, I am currently looking to move to Chesterfield as the area and town centre just seem more 'consumer friendly'. And you can never beat a good car boot sale!
:thumbsup:

You might get a more balanced view with a more widely distributed questionaire that structures the data - at the moment you'll just get a very biased view of the city.

For example - a lot of people come here as a jumping off point to the Peak District. That doesn't mean they go clubbing or use restaurants here. Similarly, the number of bars in town might not be of importance to all groups - younger people, clubbers, etc. may find that a highly important draw, but others may not.

People probably still associate Sheffield with Industry and more recently media and shopping - The CIQ and Meadowhall.

And PLEASE - take some care to get the spelling of your posts sorted out. If you want to get some views here that may have an impact on how our Council Tax is ultimately spent in a few years time, then people will take you more seriously if your spelling and grammar is sound.

Grumpy old man bit over.

Good Luck,

Joe

meadowhell sorry meadowhall:thumbsup:

sheffield does not have any major attractions. The eating out/nightlife is a lot worse than most major cities. There aren't really any major attractions to pull people in.

The only real attractions are Meadowhell (God know why) and the Peaks.

The best way to improve tourism Imo is big the whole closeness to the Peaks up....

... or close the peaks to the public then they'll have to visit the centre!! :hihi: :hihi:

As a person who has lived in Liverpool, Glasgow and Peterborough, besides Sheffield, I think Sheffield is way behind in the short break stakes. It's difficult persuading people to come here to spend a weekend.

Meadowhall seems to be the main reason that any of my family or friends venture out this way, and they certainly don't venture into the city.

The shopping has turned into one huge 'poundstretcher/poundland' pit.

The public transport system has fallen to bits - the busses no longer leave from our once state of the art bus station and getting info on times, routes and stop locations is murder (I've tried)

The opportunity to provide safe, secure parking for incoming shoppers has been completely missed. The site cleared by the demolition of the markets should have been a huge multi-storey, not an office block. People exploring a new town don't want the hassle of getting lost before they even get to where they're going, so the end of the parkway is the ideal place to ditch the car.

Urinating in public It's embarrasing taking anybody out in Sheffield. Sheffield thinks this behaviour is okay, but the rest of the country finds it disgusting. A night out in Sheffield is not a civilised affair.

And if we're going to have more market stalls, there needs to be an emphasis on unique goods rather than the tat that many of the current stalls peddle. There's a difference between a bargain and cheap tat that's cheap.

Did I miss anything?

Sheffield? A tourist hot spot, I can't see it myself but then I can't imagine many other cities being somewhere you'd want to go for a long weekend. If I was coming to visit the Peak Ditrict I'd want to be living in the Peak District not in a city where I've got a minimum of a twenty minute journey to get out into the wilds.
Sheffield [the city] doesn't have any major attractions and so it might be a suitable venue for conferences or the World snooker championships but that's not tourism is it?
People often rave on about Sheffield being a centre for sport, I'm sorry but I live in the city and am not particularily aware of it's sporting attractions, either they're not publicised very well or maybe we've got the facilities after the World Student Games but they aren't being utilised.
More and more hotels springing up and yet when friends have come to visit and wanted to book into a hotel they've never had a problem the existing hotels never seem to be full. When the snooker was on a couple of years ago the hotels in Netheredge had plenty of empty rooms, why are all the people going to flock to Sheffield to fill these new hotels, what's the attraction/ Could some-one please tell me.

Having worked and managed hotels in the city for around 8 years, I cannot recall ever having had one visitor come to stay because they were visiting the Peak District.

In terms of the Leisure segments, the reasons for visiting were usually:

- nightlife (in particular gatecrasher)
- concerts at arena (although usually when someone like Texas, Bryan Adams were playing, never boy bands etc)
- football matches (although more so when we had a Premier Division side)
- snooker - only had a real impact on the second week of the tournament. even Novotel has rooms during the first week.
- parents visiting children at universities (dont know why they didnt just kip down on a sette in some student lodging!!)
- special events (eg swimming at Ponds Forge).

I always remember (and laugh) at one former head of Destination Sheffield who said she was trying to put Sheffield on a par with Barcelona for visitors.

So the reasons for visiting Sheffield are nothing to do with Sheffield itself. People visit and overnight because of events here or to visit their offspring at uni.

The time they spend looking round the city is probably minimal and with good reason, there's not much here. If I was going to have a city break somewhere it would be to somewhere interesting like Prague, Barcelona, Rotherham or Amsterdam.

Originally posted by Alastair
So the reasons for visiting Sheffield are nothing to do with Sheffield itself. People visit and overnight because of events here or to visit their offspring at uni.

The time they spend looking round the city is probably minimal and with good reason, there's not much here. If I was going to have a city break somewhere it would be to somewhere interesting like Prague, Barcelona, Rotherham or Amsterdam.

That is true. Of course there were some benefits. For instance if attending Gatecrasher or a concert in the evening, they would arrive in the afternoon and go to Meadowhall or even out into town shopping. But they never came for that specific reason. We did our bit for the city though, encouraging them to use the tram if they were going to Meadowhall etc.

I wouldn't bother going to any large city (except London) for a 'short break'...what the hell for?
Sheffield has far too many bars! why can't you look at the concept of a city for living in rather than walking short distances between boozers. You would have to be a complete moron to walk round Sheffield in the evening with drunks everywhere and think ' we need more bars round here!'
I can't think of anything more depressing than sitting in a hotel in Sheffield!! I live in Sheffield, I want to stay in a hotel in Rome or Singapore, not Sheffield!! why would anyone else come here for a short break?
I love this city for it's people, it's friendliness, it's honesty.
Trying to persuade people to come here as tourists is just sad.
Go back to your tutors tomorrow and tell them you are packing in the course - hitchhike round Europe for a couple of years and get a look at the outside world...Sheffield is a city built on steel - good honest graft! don't try to fill it with crappy tourist attractions and conference centres, let's just be honest it has good and bad points but it's real, it's alive...

Not being from Sheffield and having travelled through most of the world I will say Sheffield is not a bad place but it is _not_ a world class city and never will be. Accept that.

Now, moving beyond any delusions of being on par with Barcelona what I will say is that if Sheffield wants to become a seriously trendy/important/happening city it needs to embrace what it is (the positive aspects not the scummy ones). Two points off the top of my head are the Peak District and the high student population. x-treme sports like bouldering, climbing are big in the area, why isn't Sheffield hosting competitions and more importantly making a big deal out of the ones we have already...pushing an edgy sports image is something Sheffield actually is and could be. Forget second rate, B level sports events like student/firefighter/reality show games...feting the best of world bouldering would go a lot further and mean a lot more. Second, I think the student population here has not been fully leveraged...generally large student populations correlate with large alternative art/music/food scenes. Sheffield promoters and business people have generally pushed bland offering towards the crowd but I would suppose there is huge market desire for genuine and offbeat art/music/food products. Properly promoting, funding and leveraging just these two points would go a long way toward creating, sustaining, and encouraging a 'real' Sheffield vibe. (there's more positive points to Sheffield than just these two of course..just examples).

Originally posted by mullet
...Sheffield is a city built on steel ... That'll be why it's falling down then! The steel industry is only a fraction of what it was. Take your head out of the sand.


Originally posted by genesiscouch
x-treme sports like bouldering, climbing are big in the area, why isn't Sheffield hosting competitions and more importantly making a big deal out of the ones we have already...pushing an edgy sports image is something Sheffield actually is and could be.
...generally large student populations correlate with large alternative art/music/food scenes. Sheffield promoters and business people have generally pushed bland offering towards the crowd but I would suppose there is huge market desire for genuine and offbeat art/music/food products.

Properly promoting, funding and leveraging just these two points would go a long way toward creating, sustaining, and encouraging a 'real' Sheffield vibe.

I'm with you, Genesiscouch :thumbsup:

cheers so far for your views, I don't think they are very bias as some of you like living here and some of you don't (which is fair enough!)

looking at the £280000 budget i think we could easily double it due to sponsorships from local hotels, businesses, facilities who will obviously benefit from the increase in tourism

i think we will be going along the lines of extreme sports as its not something that is associated with many cities in the country and Sheffield does already have a quite active extreme sports program although as correctly said it is not always promoted enough, both to people living here and around the rest of the country

and what about the first flight leaving Robin Hood Airport on the 28th April 2005? this should be able to make Sheffield a lot more accessible to visitors from further away?

Originally posted by m2rv_h
...and what about the first flight leaving Robin Hood Airport on the 28th April 2005? this should be able to make Sheffield a lot more accessible to visitors from further away?

It's in Doncaster. Look what happened there when they built the Dome. It'll take them 10 years to get around to building any roads to the place.

Originally posted by Strix
It's in Doncaster. Look what happened there when they built the Dome. It'll take them 10 years to get around to building any roads to the place.

yeah its not THAT far away though and is noted as "Doncaster Sheffield" on their promotional material

there is already a quite good link from doncasster to sheffield i thought

ttt

any more view please?

anyone know of any rock climbers who are well know?

Try contacting 'the edge' (I think it's called). It's the climbing wall attached to CCC outdoor (clothing/equipment retailer near Bramall Lane)

And perhaps the Skiing should be better promoted too?

As a Sheffielder born, bred and buttered, all I can add is that whenever friends or relatives come up to Sheffield - whether originally born here or not - then I'm more inclined to take them to somewhere outside the city than in it.

This isn't so much an anti-Sheffield gesture, more one due to the fact that where I live is a two minute drive into the countryside and so it's easier to get to; it's certainly cheaper than having to park in town and also, it's nicer.

Whilst of an evening I'd take folk round some local pubs and maybe go to a restaurant on Ecclesall Road, West Street or possibly in Ranmoor, I wouldn't particularly venture into town (although I appreciate you may class West Street as town).

But in the day (usually a Sunday) we'd head out into Derbyshire, somewhere like Castleton or Monsal Dale. Beautiful scenery and good food to be found. Maybe onto Bakewell or through Chatsworth.

IMHO to give a good impression of Sheffield, you have to cheat a bit, and give a better impression of its surrounding countryside. Chances are, they're more likely to ask 'Where was that pub in the village with all the Christmas lights?' than they are to ask 'Where was the restaurant we tried to park outside and had to end up paying a fortune in a pay and display and then to be told if we'd not booked we couldn't get in?'

For all its problems I love my city but I'm fortunate in having the countryside on my doorstep!

Originally posted by m2rv_h


and what about the first flight leaving Robin Hood Airport on the 28th April 2005? this should be able to make Sheffield a lot more accessible to visitors from further away?

Lets wait and see on that one. I haven't seen any plans for a rail or tram link to Fingingly so I don't really see how people are going to get to Sheffield from there except in the car - which means that the airport may be used for Sheffielders going on holiday but its unlikely to be used for tourists coming to Sheffield or Doncaster.

Originally posted by JoePritchard

And PLEASE - take some care to get the spelling of your posts sorted out. If you want to get some views here that may have an impact on how our Council Tax is ultimately spent in a few years time, then people will take you more seriously if your spelling and grammar is sound.


Joe [/B]

A bit Harsh Joe? Martyn is a student here in Sheffield, and so there is a chance English may not be his first language. I know if I were to post on a French forum, I too would make a few mistakes.

Originally posted by robbie
sheffield does not have any major attractions. The eating out/nightlife is a lot worse than most major cities. There aren't really any major attractions to pull people in.

Not sure many people would agree with that - but it really depends on what you mean by "major attractions".

The Crucible is actually one of the most critically acclaimed theatres outside of London, the Botanical Gardens are great now they have been restored, and what about the Millennium Galleries, Site Gallery and Graves Art Gallery?

But despite this, it doesn't seem to have anything quite high profile enough (such as Henry Moore Institute in Leeds).

Originally posted by Briano

we need a proper regular Sunday market down Fargate and around the Peace gardens.
No, please, not more stalls selling tat. It's bad enough having the permanent market on the Moor, let's keep the only decent space we have clear. The Peace Gardens are great. Putting stalls on the Moor turned it from a good shopping area into a load of cheap shops, OK, there are a couple of exceptions, but it's not a shadow of what it used to be, and you can't blame it on Meadowhall, the damage had already been done. The Council sees market stalls as a cheap and easy way of raising money from rents. Give them a chance and they'll fill every square yard of the city centre with stalls.:nono:

Don't think anyone is suggesting more stalls selling tat (although actually some of the stalls on the Moor are very good such as haberdashery one), But a proper farmers market (selling high quality, home made products) and more craft stalls could be a real attraction. Could link into Winter Gardens perhaps?

Marv

Sheffield has a number of low key attractions which many come to visit, includind Christopher Carratt, Dave the Doorman, Europes largest sex shop (ok rotherham) swinging clubs and saunas in attercliffe. Of course its best to visit them when your not there.

Lots of love, your hairy friend

BUNGLE