Some pictures of Ramsgate and Walmer Castle and a few thoughts.

For an Easter weekend it seemed a bit strange to have no events going on in Ramsgate, as you can see from the pictures the council have made a very neat job of boarding up the tourist information office.

I should point out that there will be some sort of tourist information office in the custom house, at least this is somewhere that tourists will find it.

Yes the plane really was that low, again, no special lens, just point and shoot.

With no family event in Ramsgate and having been to Quex Park recently, I looked on the English Heritage website and decided that Walmer Castle was the place to take them.

We have family membership for English Heritage, something I would recommend if you have a family as they are much more geared to entertaining children than they used to be.

I didn’t take many pictures inside as it was just too busy, so I am afraid there are rather a lot of pictures of trees, oh well no one is forcing you to look at them.

Click on the link for the pictures http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/410/id5.htm

Tourism in Thanet

I believe it is possible to do fairly unusual things with statistics, after last weeks story that tourism had risen in Thanet between 2003 and 2006 I managed to obtain the local tourist information office enquiry figures for some of that period. They make interesting reading, they appear to say that in 2003 over 1,000 people a week were visiting the Ramsgate office and in 2006 about 150 people a week were visiting the Ramsgate office.

Anyone who knows the Ramsgate office will be aware that throughout this period it has been situated where tourists would be very unlikely to find it.

One assumes that it would be busier in the summer and not unreasonable to have 2,000 visitors a week at peak times, I believe it is open about five days a week, so or 400 people a day, that’s about 1 a minute.

Anyway click here to look at the figures

Tourism continues to grow in Thanet

Below is the latest Thanet District Council press release, however unlike their planning site one is not yet able to comment on it, so I thought I would post it here in case anyone has any thoughts.

Tourism continues to grow in Thanet

New figures show tourism is now worth more than £175 million to the Thanet economy and the area is the second most popular in Kent with overseas visitors.

The Cambridge Model tourism research, undertaken by Visit Kent at Kent County Council in partnership with Thanet District Council, compared key economic markers in the local industry between 2003 and 2006.

It found that tourism supports more than seven per cent of all jobs in Thanet, with total visitor spending up 17 per cent over the three years.

In total, more than 2.7 million visitors came to Thanet in 2006, with day trippers spending a total of £72.6 million in the area and a further boost of £12.6 million from boating enthusiasts, second homeowners and residents entertaining visiting friends and family.

Thanet was the second most popular destination in Kent for overseas visitors with Canterbury topping the league table in 2006. Thanet was also the third most popular destination in Kent for UK visitors staying overnight, attracting ten per cent of the county’s total – narrowly beaten by Medway with 12 per cent and Canterbury with 11 per cent.

Even more encouraging for local tourism bosses is further research revealing that visitor perceptions of the three key resorts – Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate – have been improving since 2005, with the current overall opinion being that they are friendly, relaxed and traditional.

Cllr Roger Latchford, Cabinet Member for Economy and Culture at Thanet District Council, said: “This is excellent news for Thanet, especially the fact that our area is holding its own as one of the most popular destinations in the county. Hopefully we will see our overseas visitor numbers increase even further with the strength of the Euro making British holidays more appealing to the European market.

“Tourism makes a major contribution to our economy and that’s why Thanet District Council invests so much money in our beautiful beaches and unique town centres.”

Fran Warrington, head of Visit Kent at Kent County Council, said: “This is a tremendous vote of confidence in Thanet and all the hard work behind the scenes to promote the area.

“Tourism is a fragile and highly competitive market facing many challenges from outside the industry. Thanet’s businesses have really risen to the challenge and these figures reveal just how well they have been doing in providing the services and products that visitors from home and overseas are looking to experience and enjoy.”