News

East Midlands Airport holds event to showcase region as a ‘gateway to global tourism’

By Callum Wright

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East Midlands Airport held an event to showcase the region as a ‘gateway to global tourism’ and highlight the visitor economy.

The Airport welcomed leading figures from the region, including travel industry professionals and loccal businesses to the check-in hall on Wednesday (March 19) to focus on the airport’s role in getting tourists around the UK and moving people and products around the world.

While celebrating its 60th anniversary, the airport has teamed up with Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire.

Megan Powell Vreewsijk, Chief Executive of Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire, hosted a panel of guests from across the region’s tourism industry during the event and said the airport is a “vital” part of the East Midlands’ infrastructure and getting people to visit the area.

“It’s [EMA] the real heart of the whole region, but on top of that it’s really important for our business and our industries that are doing imports and exports out of the East Midlands,” she said.

“Our offer is really wide ranging across the whole of Nottinghamshire, it suits a lot of different appetites, from young families to the older generations.

“Tourism is absolutely on the rise and continues to be a really good growth sector for our region, events like this just champion what we do and what we have to offer, not only to the people that we know but new people who are coming into the region.”

The importance of trade was a large focus of the event, with EMA having grown into the UK’s top express air freight hub, handling around 37,000 tons of cargo a year worth £37bn, and giving a massive boost to major regional businesses.

Flights carrying four million passengers a year also depart the airport to more than 70 destinations, and Head of Corporate Affairs at EMA Ioan Reed-Aspley says with the amount of people and cargo also coming into the East Midlands from abroad, it acts as a “gateway” to the region.

“If you look back to our first days of operation back in 1965, the first flight coming into EMA was from Glasgow so we’ve been bringing people into this region from day one,” he said.

“The vast majority of the goods that come through this airport are made in the Midlands which is massive for manufacturing businesses, so this airport plays two functions – moving people and goods all around the world – and keeps this region connected globally.

“It’s really important that we work in partnership with a range of businesses and bodies responsible for promoting tourism, it all helps build our case when we talk to airlines about putting on new routes and more capacity, similarly with cargo flights, they need the businesses to be manufacturing the goods to be able to carry those goods across the world.”

Special guests were welcomed at the event, including Lady Victoria Borwick, Chair of Visit Britain, and Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands. All the guests were given a chance to network and ask questions of leading figures in the tourism and trade industry from the region.

Victoria Reeves, Chief Executive at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham, says it’s very important for major attractions and businesses in the region like themselves to keep a relationship with the airport.

“We want to make sure that the messaging is about the great things that people can do in the East Midlands,” she said.

“A global audience always wants to hear about Robin Hood but it’s much more than that, people can come spend time in Nottingham and really have some great experiences but it’s also a great stepping point into the local areas like the Peak District and more rural areas.”

Airport leaders say they have ambitions to build on the success of tourism and trade further, with proposals to develop part of the airfield to meet an estimated 54% growth in cargo demand across the next 20 years alongside plans to attract more inbound passenger flights.