The first ever national conference for marketing visitor attractions will be held in York on 17 May.

David Leon, managing director of York-based Partners Leisure Ltd, will chair the one-day event, organised by Martin Evans of The Tourism Business with support from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Tourism Society, Visit Britain and Travel GBI magazine.

Held at St Williams College, York, it will bring more than 100 marketeers from visitor attractions throughout the UK together with top speakers in their respective fields.

Through five interactive sessions, the conference will provide opportunities for discussion and debate on issues such as e-marketing, attracting the corporate market, marketing within the law and on-site marketing as they relate to visitor attractions.

David Leon established Partners Leisure Ltd last year as an associate company of York marketing communications and design firm, The Partners Group.

Partners Leisure currently provides strategic marketing advice and hands on support to a range of leisure and visitor attractions UK-wide, including English Heritage, Crich Tramway Village and York Maze.

David has been invited to chair the national attractions marketing conference following his recent involvement with the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) 28th national conference, at which he ran a workshop on techniques for evaluating marketing effectiveness.

On 17 May, David will draw on 15 years' experience in leisure attractions to provide an overview of the industry and what makes for good marketing in the attractions sector. He says:

"Getting marketing right is crucial to the success of visitor attractions. This conference provides a fantastic opportunity for those with the responsibility for marketing their attractions to network with their peers, share best practice, hear about the latest ideas and technologies and learn from people who are at the top of their fields.

"And where better to host the first ever national conference than York, one of the top tourist destinations in the UK? It promises to be an extremely interesting and rewarding day."

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