Plan to turn city into tourism hotspot unveiled

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 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."

Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.