Grow your business through Midsomer Murders

BUSINESSES in the Thame area are being offered the opportunity to learn how their business can profit from the massive popularity of the TV series, Midsomer Murders.

Neil Dudgeon, who plays Insp Barnaby in Midsomer Murders, with the ‘Causton’ locations map that includes Thame

The international popularity of the series is attracting more and more visitors from all over the world to visit the locations used in filming the series, including Thame, or Causton, as it called in the series.

A Midsomer Workshop for businesses is being held on Wednesday, June 22, at Thame Town Hall, and is FREE to attend and will include refreshments of tea, coffee, Barnaby buns – supplied by Rumsey’s – and a glass of wine.

If you have a hotel, a B&B, a guest house, restaurant, pub, cafe, are a food & drink retailer, have a gift shop, run a museum or other attraction, are a tour guide, a coach tour operators or other organisation, you can increase business through Thame’s connections with Midsomer Murders!

This globally popular ITV series, Midsomer Murders, is filmed in Southern Oxfordshire and watched by millions in the UK and in over 100 countries worldwide. It attracts thousands of visitors from the UK and overseas to Thame and the local area. These visitors want to experience for themselves the beautiful towns and villages seen in the TV series. During 2015, there was a sharp rise in Midsomer visitor numbers, conservatively estimated at 15,000. They spent around £1m in the district’s towns and villages and there were 200,000 unique visitors to www.visitmidsomer.com in 2015.

This market is lucrative for those engaging with the Midsomer concept. Thame already has Midsomer visitors – one tour operator brings more than 50 tours a year to the town. Attracting more Midsomer visitors has huge potential to bring additional spend to the town – and your business can benefit!

What will happen at the workshop?

• Discover how you can make Midsomer work for your business

• Learn about the Midsomer effect: visitor profile and data, screen tourism, media coverage

• Find out about attracting Midsomer coach groups and independent visitors

• Meet one of at least 50 businesses already experiencing growth through Midsomer

• Hear about opportunities to become a Midsomer Tour Guide

• Network with other local businesses, organisations and Midsomer ambassadors

• Listen to our first-class presenters who will help you make it happen

Who will you hear from?

Sarah Osborne, Tourism Angles – Sarah has worked in tourism for 20 years, initially as tourism manager for Windsor then moving into consultancy in the UK and abroad. Her passion lies in destination management, using tourism to create vibrant and sustainable urban and rural economies. Six years ago she and her colleagues at Tourism Angles started working in screen tourism, one of the fastest-growing sectors of the UK tourism industry.
Tourism Angles created the Midsomer concept, funded by South Oxfordshire District Council and other partners, to develop an online and media
presence for Midsomer. As part of this, they have provided marketing collateral, engaged with the travel trade, and are working with individual businesses, towns and villages to attract more visitors.

Jean Gamester, Semaphora Consulting – Jean is a professional workshop facilitator and change programme manager with a focus on helping businesses make improvements. Her clients include Vodafone, Aylesbury Vale District Council and the British Computer Society. She is also a member of Henley Business School’s executive faculty. Jean is a regular workshop facilitator for 21st Century Thame, helping to develop Thame.

Arrival time for the workshop is from 3.30 pm, workshop starts at 4.00 pm, finish by 6.30 pm.

Places will be limited so to secure your place, contact: helen.johns39@gmail.com by Friday, June 10.