Plan to turn city into tourism hotspot unveiled

Peterborough City Council hopes its new strategy will boost visitor numbers to sites like the city's cathedral

A council is hoping to improve a city’s profile, create jobs and boost tourism with a new visitor strategy.

Peterborough City Council aims to promote it as a "world city" and a major destination for staycations, both for day visits and overnight stays.

The authority said it wanted to help communities to celebrate their identities and support the development of a vibrant city centre and night-time economy.

Workshops will now be held by the Peterborough Tourism Collective, made up of representatives from the leisure and hospitality sectors.

The authority said the city could become a major player in the UK tourism industry

The council said the UK was forecast to have a tourism industry worth £257bn by 2025, about 10% of its gross domestic product.

It hoped the plan would provide a way of Peterborough to "unlock its potential" and become a major player in the market.

Labour councillor Dennis Jones, leader of Peterborough City Council, said: "Tourism and the growth of a visitor economy can only develop if you have the right sense of place in which communities already thrive.

"The strategy includes a focus on growing civic pride, a key factor in place-making.

"It can also only be a success if we have the buy-in of the whole city, which is why we would like to thank the involvement and worthwhile challenges of the tourism collective, which have helped us to build this."