Experience West Sussex (EWS) is the destination management organisation for the West
Sussex area, providing businesses with marketing support, and visitors with information on
things to do in the area. Many businesses lack marketing expertise, specifically in relation to
event leveraging, therefore the objective of this report seeks to understand how EWS can
support West Sussex businesses with leveraging from events occurring in the area from the
Year of the Coast 2023 Scheme, an initiative introduced by National Coastal Tourism to
celebrate England’s longest waymarked walking route. The discussion extracts data from a
primary questionnaire and industry data available.
An analysis of the macro environment in which EWS operates revealed the current economic
recession, misconception of the beach and the emergence of smartphones affect EWS’s
ability to support businesses to increase their revenue opportunities. While a microenvironmental analysis identified EWS’s unengaging social media strategy combined with
their high percentage of day visitors to affect their capability to increase visitation to West
Sussex. In relation to Year of the Coast it was made clear the majority of businesses had not
heard of the initiative and those that had, had not tailored their marketing to benefit from
the events. The contributing reason for this was identified as lack of awareness. An industry
analysis identified the importance of DMOs in supporting businesses to leverage from events
with results identifying business clusters, social media and marketing training and providing
information on how to leverage from events to be the most effective/required tactics.
Based on these analysis’s it is recommended EWS first tailor their own marketing to promote
the Year of the Coast, then provide businesses with information on what event leveraging is,
how they can collaborate with EWS and what benefits can derive from this, before actually
implementing actions, otherwise uptake of tactics may be limited. By implementing these
recommendations EWS can support businesses with increasing visitor’s interactions with their
business during visitation for Year of the Coast events and increase revenue opportunities for
these enterprises.