A bloomin’ wonderful new display site in Liverpool

Today we launch a brand new Tourist Information Point at Dobbies Garden World Liverpool – a popular retail outlet on the A561.

In conjunction with A-ha! Distribution, our long-standing partner company in Cumbria, we are now able to offer exclusive literature display facilities in this well-placed, south Liverpool site.

Just off Speke Boulevard on the main road to John Lennon Airport, this £8 million, 50,000 sq ft garden centre opened its doors to the public in September 2011. It was constructed using sustainably sourced materials - with energy efficiency catered for throughout - in order to help reduce its impact on the environment. The store also features a 350-seater restaurant and Farm Foodhall, specialising in locally-sourced products.

If you would like further information about displaying your leaflets or brochures in this extremely busy outlet, please drop us a line or call us on 01244 671859.

Keep an eye out for further upcoming joint projects between LDS Tourism Services and its associate companies in the very near future.

Image: Dobbies Garden World Liverpool, ©Dobbies  2011

LDS Tourism Services celebrate 20 years in business

We are looking forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary on 1st February 2012.

Specialising in the distribution and display of leaflets and brochures produced by the local tourism and leisure industries, LDS Tourism Services’ familiar swift logo can be seen in visitor attractions, hotels, restaurants, pubs, retail outlets and an assortment of busy establishments throughout North Wales and the North West. Our selection of wall holders, turnarounds and free-standing dispensers are known as Visitor Information Points (VIPs for short) and have become invaluable focal-points for holidaymakers and locals alike.

Diana Bardell-Hedley and I set up a small office in a spare room in 1992, with only a second-hand Post Office van and an Amstrad computer to carry out our work. We gradually built up a reputation for innovation, hard work and reliability, and with it came clients - both large and small- from around the region (nationally, too).

These days the Company has its headquarters in Chester, as well as offices in Wrexham and Llandudno – not to mention a number of sub-depots for storing literature. Our uniformed staff and modern fleet of vehicles can be seen dashing about the region on a daily basis, delivering a range of printed materials.

Diana, now the Managing Director of LDSTS, says: “My late father owned Vince’s Fishing Tackle shop on Lower Bridge Street for many years. He was a larger than life character with a regular column in the Evening Leader and was a very well known face about Town. So it seemed only fitting we should base LDS Tourism Services’ head office in Chester.

“Although we started the business during the financial downturn of the early ‘90s, we are now seeing small businesses struggle like never before and nobody is quite sure how long it will last. However, we are bending over backwards to help our clients.

“Having said that,” she continues, “British tourism seems to be bucking the trend in so many ways. People are becoming nostalgic for the old-fashioned British holidays of their childhoods and it’s noticeable that many caravan parks, B&Bs, traditional inns, barge companies and self catering establishments are positively flourishing.”

Like all businesses that hope to survive the financial crisis, we are fine-tuning our services to suit the times.

“For many years we paid extremely high rental fees to a selection of large national companies in order to have exclusive display rights on their premises,” says Diana. “But it has become apparent over the past couple of years that certain once busy outlets have slipped out of fashion and become quieter than the grave, with more staff than customers loitering about. Our clients, quite rightly, expect us to display their promotional materials in popular sites. Although we still pay rental to a number of major chains where the annual footfall is significant, we now put the emphasis on our Network Services and General Distribution. This allows us to keep our prices down.

“We supply tastefully designed leaflet holders free of charge to tourism operators, then service them on a regular basis, keeping the stands tidy and full of up-to-date information. In return, the outlet owners place our stands in prominent positions within their establishments. I suppose it's a sort of symbiotic relationship that works well for everyone concerned and benefits the local economy.”

LDS Tourism Services has successfully branched out into Social Media Marketing in the last couple of years and has several other exciting projects in the pipeline (watch this space). If you would like to know more about these and other services mentioned on the blog, please drop us a line at lds@ldsts.co.uk or visit our website at www.ldsts.co.uk. 

Image: © Roza / Dreamstime.com

Pictures of our stands in Sandbach services

Sandbach Services M6, a set on Flickr.

The latest photographs of our new turnarounds at RoadChef - Sandbach Services on the M6 (North and South). Please let us know if you would like to display your literature in this high-footfall location.

LDS Tourism sign exclusive contract for M6 Motorway Services

Sandbach Motorway Services

A great many beneficial changes are taking place this winter as we continue to provide our clients with superior display locations at the best possible rates.

Every year we modify our services to suit current visitor trends and exchange poorly performing sites for more popular ones. For this reason, we have once again signed an exclusive contract to display promotional print in RoachChef’s Sandbach Motorway Service Area, located on the M6 between Junctions 16 and 17.

Just two miles from Cheshire’s ancient market town of Sandbach, and with separate facilities available in both directions, this popular rest area is on the main arterial route to and from the North West – making it the ideal stop-off point for travellers visiting Manchester, Liverpool, the Lake District, Yorkshire and as far north as Scotland.

As ‘staycations’ become the norm, the great British public are increasingly on the move at weekends and during Bank Holidays and school breaks, which means that our prominently displayed holders are ideally placed to grab the attention of motorists and coach parties when they pull off the carriageway for refreshments and a toilet break.

However, time is of the essence if you would like to display your promotional print in either of these busy sites during the festive season. Please contact us immediately to plan your Christmas and New Year leaflet campaigns.

Look out for further announcements regarding exclusive display sites in the coming weeks and feel free to get in touch with us at any time.

A surprisingly successful season

Autumn is almost upon us and we are beginning to take stock of the last few months - comparing the high-season of 2011 with summers past. Halloween and Bonfire Night leaflets are beginning to appear in our VIPs and we are receiving a variety of Christmas literature at the Border Distribution Centre.

It has been an extremely encouraging year up to now for LDS Tourism Services. The latest research shows that Brits continue to holiday at home, with an increase of 4% in trips taken. Visits to attractions in England - including farms, wildlife attractions and gardens - are up 7% according to VisitBritain. Additionally, findings from the latest International Passenger Survey show that a record number of visitors arrived in the UK in June and, more significantly, spent a record amount.

Chester Zoo announced it had welcomed its one millionth visitor of 2011, having seen attendance soar since the opening of its wonderful Dinosaurs at Large! exhibition in July. This milestone was reached almost four weeks earlier than in 2010, a year in which the zoo was declared the most visited (charged) attraction in the UK.

In August, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that foreign holidaymakers had spent £100m in North Wales last year. Over 172,000 overseas tourists spent £13 million more than in 2009, bucking the national trend and delighting local authorities.

Wrexham Council’s lead member for regeneration, Rodney Skelland, was quoted in the Daily Post as saying: “There are two things that may have really helped drive forward our growth in the overseas market. The first is the way the services and facilities we can offer visitors has really developed in terms of both quality and range. The other factor is increased global exposure for Wrexham since it became a university town in 2008 and gained a World Heritage Site in 2009.”

Thousands of people flocked to the Southport Air Show in July, lining the beach, promenade and pier to watch spectacular acrobatic performances over the blue Merseyside skies. Sefton council’s member for tourism, Cllr Mike Booth said after the event that official figures confirmed the weekend was a record breaker.

We were thrilled to receive Approved Partner Status last month from Marketing Cheshire. You can now find us featured on their corporate website under the recommended partners’ page.

If you have leaflets or brochures for distribution during the winter or you would like us to handle your social media marketing over this period, please contact us right away to discuss tactics. 

Image: ©Marketing Cheshire 2011

LDS Tourism Services Thank VIP Hosts

‘Silly Season’ has officially begun. For the last few weeks everyone at LDS Tourism has been working flat-out accepting deliveries of leaflets, servicing holders, talking with clients and generally making preparations for Valentine’s Day and the half-term break. Next up: Mothering Sunday and Easter!

As regular readers know, we like to highlight the many wonderful local businesses that host our Visitor Information Points (VIPs). Although our time is limited, we patronise these establishments as frequently as possible and feature them here following a visit.

One establishment we can highly recommend is Bellis Brothers Farm Shop & Garden Centre in Holt, near Wrexham. Diana and I popped in there last week to do some shopping and found their shelves bulging with home-grown and regionally sourced fruit, vegetables, dairy products, cooked meats and baked goods - not to mention locally brewed beers in the Wine Department. The gardening section was well stocked with quality plants and we were able to browse through a range of greeting’s cards, items of clothing and fascinating knick-knacks before retiring to the Strawberry Fields Restaurant for a spot of delicious, home-cooked lunch. In addition to this, the staff were all friendly and helpful, without exception, and the light and airy open-plan feel of the store made shopping a positively pleasant experience.

We also found time to visit the Glan Yr Afon Inn, a 16th century pub in the small village of Dolphin, near Holywell - which is currently celebrating its 450th anniversary. Here we were greeted warmly by the staff and enjoyed a tasty meal in their attractively decorated restaurant next to a roaring log fire.

Moving on to clients, our congratulations go to Knowsley Safari Park following the announcement that they pulled in their greatest number of visitors for 35 years, despite the recession and poor weather of 2009. Over 530,000 people flocked through the gates last year, making it their best annual attendance since the attraction opened in 1972. You can read all about it in a recent article published on the St Helens Star website.

We hope everyone is busy over the coming weeks. If you would like your leaflets and brochures displayed in our VIPs over Easter, please get your stock to us as quickly as possible. You are invited to contact us on 01244 671859 if you need to discuss your campaign.

Shop at Bellis's Country Market

Garden Centre at Bellis's Country Market

The Glan Top and Tails

Main picture: Homedade Quiche at Bellis's

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Images © LDS Tourism Services Ltd, 2010

LDS Tourism Continue to Lead the Way

As usual, we are working flat-out through the school holidays. We will shortly be adding the Grosvenor Shopping Centre (Chester) and the New Mersey Shopping Park (Speke) to our collection of exclusive sites. There is also another exciting contract in the pipeline, which we hope to reveal very soon.

Over the past twelve months, we have been listening closely to our client’s comments and suggestions regarding the types of display sites they prefer. In addition to this, we have been monitoring the effects the recession has had on the leaflet pick-up rate in different types of outlets.

As regular readers of this blog will know, the economic downturn has made an enormous difference to the public’s leisure time and there has been a distinct swing towards short-breaks and nostalgic holidays in the UK. In many ways, this has been a positive development for local businesses and we have been delighted to see an increase in demand for promotional leaflets in caravan parks, smaller hotels, self-catering establishments, pubs, shopping parks, tourist attractions etc. Equally, some of our once busiest locations (particularly those frequented by business travellers) have become very quiet indeed. Obviously, it’s all ‘swings and roundabouts’, to coin a somewhat overused expression, but we are intending to make a few changes for 2010.

We have decided to drop the poorly performing outlets at the end of this summer in favour of more popular sites. We have already increased our collection of Premier Network’s quite significantly over the past few months and, in addition to this, you can expect to see our holders appearing in several unexpected places over the autumn and winter.

On another matter entirely, all you tweeters can now follow LDS Tourism Services on Twitter at twitter.com/LDSTS and the Brochure Marketing group at twitter.com/brochuregroup.

Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any queries, comments or suggestions.

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Squatters in our Brochure Holders

At LDS Tourism Services we have a name for the unauthorised leaflets that appear in our display units from time to time. As a clue, the ornithologists among you will no doubt be aware of a certain feathered critter known for laying its eggs in the nests of other birds - frequently evicting the host’s clutch and live young in the process. Yes, you’ve guessed, these freeloading flyers are known to us as ‘cuckoos’!

Over the years we've evicted our fair share of ‘cuckoos’. In fact, signs on our stands inform potential squatters: “Unauthorised Material Will Be Removed”. Nevertheless, there are inevitably a handful of distributors who think we won’t spot a leaflet or two promoting their clients among all the others. They couldn’t be more wrong!

Whilst extremely annoying, this has never been of serious concern – until now. We have suddenly noticed (what could only be described as) flocks of ‘cuckoos’ appearing in our holders; to such an extent that we have been impelled to contact various businesses to let them know their leaflets will never reach the public. It would be unfair to highlight individual names because we are quite sure this problem is down to one or two unscrupulous distribution companies rather than the attractions themselves. However, it’s a great pity to see so much promotional print go to waste and it benefits nobody in the long-run.

So, the moral behind this story is beware unprincipled businesses passing themselves off as reputable distribution firms. If they offer to display your leaflets in hundreds of stands throughout the region (perhaps for half the price), then they are probably cuckoos in doves' clothing.

Forward Planning Pays Off For Leaflet Marketing Company

As the country basks in glorious sunshine, there is every indication that camping and caravanning holidays are enjoying an amazing resurgence. Indeed, according to a recent holiday poll of over 2,000 people, thirty percent of Brits are staying in cheaper accommodation such as a tent or caravan to save money this year.

Regular readers of this blog will know that we predicted such a trend over twelve months ago. We were also correct in thinking that the strength of the euro would increase awareness of what the UK has to offer. Consequently, we were able to plan ahead and target caravan sites, B&B’s, marinas and a range of self-catering establishments with our various leaflet campaigns. We have every confidence that our forward thinking will result in clients benefitting from the predicted 20% rise in British holidays taken this summer – not to mention the shift towards leisure travellers who prefer weekend breaks.

We have a number of exciting and innovative new plans in the pipeline, which we hope to implement over the coming months in order to take full advantage of the transformation within the tourist industry caused by the recession (not least the decline in business and corporate travellers). All will be revealed in the very near future.

New leaflets and brochures continue to arrive at the Border Distribution Centre on an almost daily basis. Hot off the press are: Word of Mouth: People & Places in Wales (Issue 19), Chester Mini Guide, BugWorld Experience, Cumbria Culture Guide and many others.

If you would like further information about our services, please feel free to drop us a line or ring up for a chat on 01244 671859.

We Asked: Why Brochure Displays?

A couple of weeks ago, we posed the question: “What are the benefits of a tourist information point?” to fellow members of LinkedIn. It went something like this:

We have a waiting list of hoteliers who want our brochure display stands in their establishments. What are the main benefits to the guests and to the hotel staff of having local leaflets on display? We would be very interested to hear your opinions.

We were delighted with the response we received and would like to share with you a handful of the most interesting replies.

Ajay Merchant, National Head - Hospitality Division at TCL, says, “A good star (class) hotel always has an in-house travel desk”. Although, he feels that Five Star establishments would normally employ a concierge (described by Ajay as “walking, talking encyclopedias”) who would use leaflets as a mere “prop”. Nevertheless, he concedes that a tourist information stand “could save the concierge time and energy by redirecting guests seeking general information to pick up a brochure...”

Photographer and graphic artist, Wing Wong, observes that “some tourists will do anything and everything” to avoid asking for assistance. He says, “The brochure stands provide a good way for them to find information they need… without bothering others.” He also points out that, “hotel staff who may not be well versed in the [region’s highlights],” are able to “direct… visitors to the information stand, [which will] allow them to continue serving other customers”.

Nirmal Kishore, the Sales Manager at Kuoni Travel, very practically lists the top benefits to the guests as, “providing access to: local events; local attractions; local product & service providers; other services/products, including those that may enrich/add value to their stay; and promotional deals…”. His benefits to the hotel employees are: “providing access to products and services from motivated vendors (sellers); and promotional deals on products and services (that may otherwise be not available to them)”.

Travel Specialist at Rubinsohn Travel, Adrienne Sasson, points out that “the guest may be someone who is relocating to the area and perhaps looking for housing. Local information can make becoming acquainted with the area much easier… The same [would apply] to a business relocating...” She concludes by saying that she herself appreciates, “information stands in the lobby” and “often looks at the… leaflets or pamphlets” when she is travelling.

Same here, Adrienne! It’s usually something of a busman’s holiday when LDS employees take a trip!

May we take this opportunity to thank all those who responded to our question. We very much enjoyed reading your answers.

Brochure Displays Vital To Tourism Marketing

Last weekend, Diana nipped over to the National Boat, Caravan & Outdoor Show (19th – 24th February) at Birmingham’s NEC. Spanning six halls, there were an enormous number of outdoor products on display - from small tents to plush motorhomes – and this year’s exhibition hosted the biggest boat and marine display in its 47 year history. In addition to all this, there were plenty of free activities laid on such as archery lessons and tent pitching competitions. The event was well attended by both industry and non-industry folk, giving Di the perfect opportunity to make some very useful contacts. She also thoroughly enjoyed herself and intends to go again in 2009.

As you will all be aware, Liverpool's Capital of Culture year was officially launched during January and a unique programme of events across the Northwest to celebrate '08 is set to bring in an additional £50 million in visitor spend to the Northwest economy. What's more, £50 million is expected to go directly to Merseyside over the coming year from 1.7 million extra visitors. It is estimated that this year alone European Capital of Culture will be worth £100 million to the Northwest economy in visitor spend. Good news for all of us!

Some of you may be interested in reading a report entitled Comparison of the Effectiveness of Brochure Distribution from the international Association of Professional Brochure Distributors. Their findings show that brochure displays continue to play an essential role in marketing tourist attractions, events etc. You can learn more and download a pdf version of the report right here:

http://www.apbd.org/about/research.php

With Easter fast approaching, we are eating, sleeping and dreaming leaflets. However, we hope to have news of yet more exciting additions to our exclusive Network sites in the very near future. Keep watching this space!