Short break development 

"More regions of the UK should take note of what Leicestershire Promotions, the area’s tourism body, have devised to encourage families to visit and enjoy what the county has to offer.”

Richard Webber from TravelLowdown.com 

After talking to local accommodation providers about maximising occupancy at non-peak periods and to focus on the destination’s family offer, Leicestershire Promotions devised and launched the Stay Play Explore  short breaks in Summer 2005.   

Since then, Stay Play Explore has become one of the most popular family breaks in the UK and has generated over 500,000 bednights  for the local visitor economy.  

The model is based on a choice of three from at least five family-friendly visitor attractions, plus high quality overnight accommodation, all for just £169 for a family of four.  

Leicestershire Promotions successfully run the offer in Coventry and Warwickshire as well as Leicestershire with breaks in other destinations in the pipeline.  

“Being away for a short break with all of the members of the family was a real highlight. Great hotel, great attractions, great fun. Well done, Stay Play Explore!  We think that the promotion of Stay Play Explore Leicestershire is great and other counties should follow suit.”

Chris, father of the Howard family, Stay Play Explore visitors 

The proven Stay Play Explore model has been extended with the launch of Stay Play Explore Warwickshire in 2017. This new family short break includes major visitor attractions in Stratford and Warwick including Stratford Butterfly Farm, Fairytale Farm Park, Avon Boating and the British Motor Museum.  

Stay Play Explore Warwickshire was developed by Leicestershire Promotions and Shakespeare’s England.  

Helen Peters, Chief Executive of Shakepeare’s England said: “Shakespeare’s England is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Leicestershire Promotions to extend the successful Stay Play Explore programme to Warwickshire. “

In 2020 Leicestershire Promotions  launched the Stay Play Explore Coventry breaks in partnership with Destination Coventry.  Attractions include Coventry Transport Museum,  The Wave Coventry, St Mary's Guildhall and Ballroom Climbing Wall. 

Event planning and delivery  

Leicestershire Promotions works with  partners to deliver a wide range of initiatives to inspire residents and attract new visitors to the destination.  Previous initiatives include the Loogabarooga Children's Literature Festival, The Edible Forest Food and Drink Festival, Melton's Mowbray's food heritage trail, Discover Charnwood Heritage Guide and Augmented Reality Trail, King Richard III Sculpture Trail and the National Forest Corporate Experiences 

Tourism Awards 

Leicestershire Promotions has been running destination’s Tourism & Hospitality Awards since 2011

Winners of the 2022 awards included local hotels, festivals and events, visitor attractions, restaurants, B&Bs, pubs, retailers, conference centres and self-catering accommodation.  Three of our local winners went on to be finalists in the national Visit England Tourism Awards and came away with three silver awards.  

Business development  

Tourism Forum  

Every year, Leicestershire Promotions invites tourism businesses from across Leicestershire to the annual Leicestershire Tourism Forum. The primary aims of the forums are to focus on working collectively, find out more about partnership opportunities and to receive practical advice on how to increase visitor numbers.  

The Forums include presentations on the state of the tourism sector and practical workshops on related areas such as marketing, events development, funding and more.  

Collaborate for Business Growth programme  

Leicestershire Promotions worked with Winning Moves to deliver free specialist support to help tourism businesses to expand. Small and medium sized attractions and accommodation and hospitality firms took advantage of the advice, designed to help them harness growth in the sector.   

The project supported 130 businesses across Leicester and Leicestershire and was funded by Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

District partnerships 

LPL has formed district partnership groups throughout Leicestershire, comprising of local authority and local tourism business representatives. These partnership boards work together to develop and deliver Tourism Blueprints for their respective districts, encompassing marketing, branding, events, joint promotions and more.  

Targeted tourism campaigns  

Group travel  

LPL works to promote Leicestershire as an inspiring destination of choice for the group travel market through PR, direct marketing, e-communications, familiarisation visits and more.