Places To Visit

What Places To Visit does

Places To Visit operates as a destination marketing organization under the trade name Visit Amber Valley, run by the tourism department of Amber Valley Borough Council, a local government authority headquartered at the Town Hall in Ripley, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. The platform centers on the visitambervalley.com website, which serves as the official, authoritative tourism portal for the Amber Valley borough, providing visitors with comprehensive listings of attractions, accommodation providers, food and drink venues, walking routes, and an events calendar. The site is built on the Umbraco content management system and incorporates CookieBot consent management alongside Texthelp's ReachDeck accessibility toolbar, ensuring WCAG-aligned access for users with reading difficulties, visual impairments, or those requiring translated content. The borough encompasses four principal market towns — Alfreton, Belper, Heanor, and Ripley — plus surrounding villages, and partially sits within the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site, providing strong heritage credentials.

The platform's core product is the Amber Valley Routeways network of 22 self-guided circular walking and riding routes along public footpaths and bridleways, each supported by downloadable leaflets with directions and historical commentary. In February 2025, the organization launched the Ay Up Me Duck Trail, a public art initiative featuring eight large locally-decorated duck sculptures plus smaller hidden ducks across the four main towns, supported by a dedicated mobile application developed by Haywyre LLP. Partner attractions promoted through the platform include Heage Windmill (the only working six-sailed stone tower mill in England), Crich Tramway Village, Midland Railway Butterley, Kedleston Hall, Great British Car Journey, the Ritz Cinema in Belper, and Belper River Gardens. Distribution occurs through the website, mobile app, organic social media on Facebook and Instagram, a monthly newsletter, and SEO for Derbyshire tourism queries.

The business model is indirect: as a public-sector tourism function, Places To Visit is funded through council tax and government allocations rather than commercial sales, with the website offered free of charge to end users. The organization generates economic value by driving visitor footfall to local tourism businesses, accommodations, and attractions. Customer-facing pricing belongs to partner businesses individually — for example, Heage Windmill admission starts at £3 for children, Great British Car Journey tickets start at £8, and Ritz Cinema adult tickets are £11.50. The organization partners strategically with regional bodies including Visit Peak District & Derbyshire and Visit Derby to co-organize the annual Peak District, Derbyshire & Derby Tourism Awards. The operating team is small, at approximately 6 employees, consistent with a focused council tourism department rather than a commercial enterprise.

Name

Places To Visit

Legal name

Amber Valley Borough Council

Website

https://visitambervalley.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Places To Visit (Visit Amber Valley) is the official destination marketing website of Amber Valley Borough Council, promoting tourism across four Derbyshire market towns — Alfreton, Belper, Heanor, and Ripley — through curated walking routes, attraction listings, events, and the Ay Up Me Duck public art trail.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing and Tourism Promotion

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520), Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Land (4871), Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Other (48799), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Neighborhood & Local Life Tours (Communities & Hidden Gems) (THAJAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Recreation & Activity Services (Hiking, Boating, Climbing, Fishing—Guided/Authorized) (THAAAGAF), Cultural Heritage & Historic District Tours (THAJAAAB), Permitting, Reservations & Visitor Information Services (Passes, Booking, Visitor Centers) (THAAAGAD)

Keywords

• Destination marketing services
• Tourism promotion portal
• Walking route guides
• Visitor information centre
• Local event listings

Headquarters

HQ city

Ripley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Tourism Promotion Services: The website serves as the official tourism platform for Amber Valley Borough Council, promoting local tourism businesses, attractions, and events. Revenue generation is indirect through increased visitor spending at local businesses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Visit Amber Valley is the official publicly-funded tourism website for Amber Valley Borough Council in Derbyshire, UK, providing free visitor information including attractions, events, accommodation and food directories, and the Amber Valley Routeways network of 22+ curated walking routes. The platform also runs the seasonal Ay Up Me Duck public art trail with an accompanying mobile app, and promotes regional tourism awards.

Product overview

Visit Amber Valley is a destination marketing platform operated by Amber Valley Borough Council offering a unified website with integrated tools for visitors to discover and plan trips to Amber Valley, Derbyshire. The core platform combines accommodation search, food and drink directory, events calendar, and walking routes (Amber Valley Routeways). Key featured attractions include Heage Windmill, Crich Tramway Village, Midland Railway Butterley, Kedleston Hall, and Great British Car Journey. The platform also hosts thematic campaigns like the Ay Up Me Duck Trail and the Amber Valley Timewarp historical archive. An accompanying mobile app (Ay Up Me Duck App, developed by Haywyre LLP) extends the trail experience with navigation and gamification features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Visit Amber Valley Website

Quantifiable outcome

• Green Flag award for Belper River Gardens recognition of park quality
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Visit Peak District & DerbyshirecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Official tourism organization collaborating with Visit Derby to organize the Peak District, Derbyshire & Derby Tourism Awards. Entries open for 2026 awards until 20th July, celebrating excellence across accommodation, attractions, food/drink, and tour operators.
• Visit DerbycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Partnership with Visit Peak District & Derbyshire to co-organize the regional tourism awards program. Winners are put forward to the VisitEngland Awards of Excellence.
• Haywyre LLPcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2025App development partner for the Ay Up Me Duck Trail mobile application. Haywyre LLP developed the app on behalf of Amber Valley Borough Council and acts as data processor, providing app support and development services. Located at Chartwell House, 4 St Paul's Square, Burton-on-Trent DE14 2EF.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• VisitEngland: National tourism board for England that runs the Awards of Excellence pipeline which Visit Amber Valley's regional award winners feed into. A broad incumbent operating across the same destination-marketing category but at national scale.
• Tripadvisor: Global travel platform with comprehensive attraction, accommodation, and dining directories plus reviews. Competes for visitor attention against curated local DMOs and is a broad incumbent in tourism content aggregation.
• VisitBritain: UK national tourism agency promoting Britain to international visitors. Broad incumbent in destination marketing with much larger budget, broader geographic mandate, and complementary content platform.
• Lonely Planet: Global travel content publisher producing guides, articles, and curated local experiences. Adjacent to Visit Amber Valley's "insider tips" value proposition but at a much larger international scale.
• VisitScotland: National tourism organisation for Scotland running a destination-marketing portal analogous to Visit Amber Valley. Broad incumbent peer operating the same model at country-level scale.

Direct peers

• Visit Derby: City-level DMO for Derby, adjacent to Amber Valley. Direct peer given its collaboration with Visit Amber Valley on regional tourism awards and shared function of curating local attractions, accommodation, and events for inbound visitors.
• Visit York: Council-affiliated DMO promoting a single historic English destination with a curated content portal, walking routes, and event calendar. Strong functional peer to Visit Amber Valley's destination-marketing model, though at larger scale.
• Visit Peak District & Derbyshire: Regional destination marketing organisation covering the broader Peak District and Derbyshire area. Direct peer because it is explicitly co-organising tourism awards with Visit Amber Valley and operates the same DMO model at a larger regional scale.
• Visit Bristol: Single-city UK DMO with similar council backing, content portal, walking routes, and partner attraction listings. Comparable in operating model and target audience to Visit Amber Valley.
• Visit Nottinghamshire: Neighbouring East Midlands county DMO operating an analogous council-affiliated tourism portal. Directly comparable in model, scale, and target visitor segments, with overlapping walking and heritage content.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• Instagraminstagram.com/visitambervalley
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/places-to-visit

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Places To Visit