New website to bring visitors to Bury

Bury Council is marking English Tourism Week with the launch of a new visitor website - http://www.visitbury.com/

This will be the official tourism site for the borough and will make it easy for people to discover all that Bury has to offer, places to visit and stay, and information about local events.

Councillor Jane Lewis, cabinet member for communities and culture, said: “There are more reasons than ever to visit Bury. Traditional attractions such as Bury Market and the East Lancashire Railway remain huge favourites, and they have been augmented in recent years by the redeveloped Bury Transport Museum, the new Fusilier Museum and Bury Sculpture Centre. We also have a number of major annual events such as Bury Light Night and Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival which bring in thousands of visitors.”

Figures show that visitor spend in Bury rose from £238m in 2009 to £302m in 2012, and visitor numbers increased from 4.7 million to 5.3 million over that period.

Cllr Lewis cited Bury’s countryside and open spaces – all of Bury’s main parks hold Green Flag status, and the town has won North West in Bloom for ten years running.

“Bury is also a great place to shop, with major centres such as The Rock and Mill Gate, and is ranked 3^rd best retail destination across Greater Manchester behind only the city centre and the Trafford centre. This high street offer is complemented by a high number of independent stores across our towns and villages and a growing number of places to eat and drink in,” she said.

Cllr Lewis pointed out that many Bury attractions are award-winners: for example, The Met won ‘Venue of the Year’ in the 2014 Manchester Tourism Awards, while Bury Market was ‘Best Visitor Attraction’ in this year’s national market awards. The ELR and Transport Museum is in the Top 10 most visited tourist attractions in Greater Manchester.

Bury has just become the first town centre in Greater Manchester to win Purple Flag status for the quality of its night-time economy.

Cllr Lewis also revealed ambitious plans to develop the facilities at Burrs Country Park over the coming years to further boost its tourist potential.

She concluded: ““The need for a tourism website reflects how far the borough has come as a visitor destination and the website is an opportunity for tourism businesses to promote themselves to increasing numbers of visitors. We want to encourage more people to visit our wonderful borough, and English Tourism Week is the perfect opportunity to launch our new website, which complements our existing Tourist Information Centre.”

Business can find out more about the web site by contacting touristinformation@bury.gov.uk

Nick Brook-Sykes, director of tourism at Marketing Manchester, said: “Bury’s ongoing investment in its attractions and events has played a significant part in furthering the appeal of the destination for visitors and it is a key part of Greater Manchester’s visitor offer.

“With people increasingly using digital and online platforms to gather information to plan their trips and holidays, it is fantastic to see that Bury is launching a new website for consumers. This is particularly well-timed during English Tourism Week, an industry-wide initiative designed to shine a light on the importance of tourism in England and increase awareness of the local visitor offer among both visitors and residents.”

ENDS

Press release issued: 18 March 2015.

Picture: Launching the Visit Bury website are Cllr Jane Lewis, council leader Cllr Mike Connolly, and Nick Smale of The Met and Ramsbottom Festival.