Visitor Economy

From 1996 to 2009 the City Fringe Partnership delivered major initiatives to improve the prospects of residents and support London's small businesses.

1. About the CFP
2. Achievements
3. Project case studies
4. In pictures

Download CFP research on the area and key employment sectors, as well as sector investment plans and evaluation reports of its programmes.

1. Research

CFP projects, project delivery partners and links to organisations at the heart of CFP activities.

1. Projects and links

Encouraging visitors to a resurgent City Fringe: DIY guides to the area

For visitors to the area the City Fringe offers a rich and vibrant mix of internationally renowned destinations and unique 'undiscovered' attractions, including hundreds of art galleries, museums, heritage sites, theatres, festivals and street markets.

The City Fringe hospitality industry is thriving with almost a thousand restaurants, bars and clubs in the area providing around 11,700 jobs. Between 2001 and 2008 the number of hotels in the area doubled and the number of restaurants had increased by over 35%.

In 2008 the CFP's Visitor Economy Investment Plan (VEIP) was launched to promote the area to visitors, help local businesses take advantage of the rise in visitor numbers and to provide training for the local workforce.

Projects included City Fringe familiarisation trips for hotel staff, which prepared hotel staff to make recommendations on visitor attractions to their clientele. The CFP also supported the Whitechapel Gallery's First Thursdays programme, encouraging audiences to the 113 art galleries and museums spread across Hackney and Tower Hamlets and included accessible guided bus tours for art lovers with mobility issues.

The CFP's Visit Us project helped east London cultural and hospitality businesses prepare for the growth in visitors to the City Fringe, in particular in association with the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. You can read more about one of the many businesses that benefitted from the project here. At VisitKX (King's Cross) the CFP assisted their audience development project to ensure businesses from communities less likely to engage in new initiatives were included.

In Islington and Camden two projects were established for long-term unemployed residents, providing skills training, basic hospitality qualifications and work placements. The CFP advised the London Development Agency to commit funding towards the establishment of the London City Hospitality Centre, which continues to offer hospitality training and work experience for residents in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

Do-it-yourself guides

Getting visitors to explore beyond London's traditional tourist hotspots to discover something new in the City Fringe was a significant challenge, faced by major advertising spend on well-known attractions across the capital. On a limited budget, the CFP collaborated with destination marketing organisations Visit London and Time Out to produce two guides to the area in early 2009.

DIY East and DIY North offered do-it-yourself guides to lesser-known attractions in the City Fringe, encouraging people to travel by bus, tube, bike or on foot. Around 250,000 copies of DIY East were distributed across London with the East festival guide in late February by The Guardian, Time Out and LondonCalling.

Following the success of DIY East, the CFP commissioned a second guide to the City Fringe focusing on Islington and Camden and based on bus routes from central London. Guiding visitors to key destinations in the boroughs, DIY North was distributed to Time Out's London readership as well as 45,000 copies across the capital via LondonCalling. Both guides were given dedicated pages on the Visit London website which promotes the capital to national and international visitors.

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