Marketing Cheltenham

What Marketing Cheltenham does

Marketing Cheltenham is the official Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) for Cheltenham, United Kingdom, and operates as a unit of Cheltenham Borough Council. The organization promotes Cheltenham as a destination for visitors, residents, businesses, and investors through its consumer-facing Visit Cheltenham brand, which includes a website with over 2 million annual page views, 90,000 social media followers, a 40,000+ subscriber e-newsletter, and a what's-on guide featuring more than 1,000 events annually. Its core operational focus is on destination promotion, event coordination, and supporting the local visitor economy, which generates approximately £122 million in annual visitor spend and 2 million+ visitors.

The company's service portfolio includes membership-based promotional services for local businesses, the Cheltenham Growth Hub for free SME business support, content curation for the Visit Cheltenham platform, and visitor information distribution via printed guides and maps. Its technology stack is built on a WordPress-powered website with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities or proprietary platform infrastructure. It coordinates signature campaigns such as the Cheltenham Christmas Ice Rink (delivering £1.6 million in economic impact) and Food + Drink Week (40+ venues, 4 million+ media reach).

Marketing Cheltenham's revenue model combines membership fees (subscription/recurring annual billing) with public sector funding via Cheltenham Borough Council, the Cheltenham BID levy (representing 700+ businesses that have invested £3.8 million into the town centre since 2016), VisitEngland grants, and travel trade partnerships. Its go-to-market motion is event-driven, relying on multi-channel content marketing, regional partnerships within the Cotswolds Plus LVEP (accredited August 2023), and travel trade participation. The organization serves two primary customer segments: visitors and tourists (persona) seeking events, accommodation, and itinerary content, and local hospitality, retail, and tourism businesses (business units) seeking promotional reach and event participation.

Name

Marketing Cheltenham

Legal name

Marketing Cheltenham

Website

https://marketingcheltenham.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Marketing Cheltenham is the official Destination Marketing Organisation for Cheltenham, UK, operating within Cheltenham Borough Council. It promotes the town through its Visit Cheltenham brand, membership services for local businesses, and signature events including Food + Drink Week and the Christmas Ice Rink.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Services

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Festival & Event Producers/Organizers (MPAIAFAC)

Keywords

• Destination marketing
• Visitor economy
• Tourism promotion
• Membership services
• Event marketing

Headquarters

HQ city

Cheltenham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: Marketing Cheltenham operates a membership programme for local businesses, offering marketing opportunities, campaigning support, and promotional benefits in exchange for membership fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Marketing Cheltenham is the official Destination Marketing Organisation for Cheltenham, operating as part of Cheltenham Borough Council. It promotes Cheltenham as a visitor destination through the Visit Cheltenham consumer brand (website, what's on guide, accommodation/dining/shopping listings, itineraries) and sells paid membership packages to local businesses for promotional opportunities and campaigning support. It also coordinates town-wide events and campaigns such as Food + Drink Week and the Cheltenham Christmas Ice Rink.

Product overview

Marketing Cheltenham is the official Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) for Cheltenham, operating as part of Cheltenham Borough Council. Its primary offering is the Visit Cheltenham consumer tourism brand, encompassing a website with what's on guides, accommodation, dining, and shopping listings, plus itineraries for visitors. The organisation provides membership services for local businesses seeking promotional opportunities, and connects businesses to the Cheltenham Growth Hub for free business support. The portfolio also includes content curation services and visitor information distribution through print materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Visit Cheltenham The consumer-facing tourism brand and website operated by Marketing Cheltenham, featuring what's on guides, accommodation listings, dining, shopping, and travel itineraries. The site attracts over 2 million page views annually and reaches audiences through active social media with 90,000 followers and a newsletter sent to 40,000+ subscribers fortnightly. Targeted at visitors and tourists planning trips to Cheltenham and the Cotswolds.
• Marketing Cheltenham Membership Membership programme offering local businesses promotional opportunities through Visit Cheltenham content channels. Benefits include priority for content submissions, access to marketing campaigns, and member communications. Priced as an annual subscription to hotels, restaurants, shops, attractions, and other businesses in Cheltenham's hospitality and tourism sectors.
• Cheltenham Growth Hub Free business support and resources provided in partnership with the Growth Hub Network Gloucestershire, offering mentors, peer networks, and events to help businesses start or grow. Targeted at local Cheltenham businesses seeking startup and growth support.
• Cheltenham Visitor Information Official visitor information services for Cheltenham, including printed guides and maps distributed to tourist information centres, regional hotels, attractions, and service stations. Targeted at visitors and tourists seeking offline information about Cheltenham.

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cotswolds Plus (Local Visitor Economy Partnership)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 August 2023Accredited LVEP for the region - one of seven new LVEPs announced. Chaired by Cotswolds National Landscape Board, Cotswolds Plus is a collaboration between Cotswolds Tourism, Marketing Cheltenham, Visit Gloucester, Visit Dean Wye and Visit Gloucestershire. Eight workstreams including sustainability, business support and research.
• CheltenhamZerominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 March 2023Climate action partnership helping local businesses work towards Cheltenham's 2030 net zero target. Marketing Cheltenham promoted the Zellar sustainability platform to businesses.
• Cheltenham BIDcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarketing Cheltenham works closely with Cheltenham BID to promote Cheltenham as a visitor destination. The BID has invested £3.8m into the town centre since 2016 and represents over 700 businesses. Joint initiatives include events like Food + Drink Week and the Christmas Ice Rink.
• Cheltenham Borough CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarketing Cheltenham is part of Cheltenham Borough Council, providing the official Destination Marketing Organisation function for the town. The council provides political support and funding for tourism initiatives.
• Visit EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational tourist board partnership for promoting Cheltenham as a destination. VisitEngland provides funding and expertise to support regional tourism marketing efforts.
• Cotswolds TourismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership within Cotswolds Plus LVEP to promote the wider Cotswolds region. Cotswolds Tourism serves as the lead organisation for this regional collaboration.
• Cheltenham FestivalsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival organisation partnership to promote and coordinate Cheltenham's renowned festival programme including Jazz, Music, Science and Literature festivals.
• Cheltenham Chamber of CommerceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to support local business community and coordinate tourism promotion with broader business development initiatives.
• Cheltenham TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharitable trust partnership supporting cultural and heritage attractions in Cheltenham.
• Cheltenham RacecourseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor attraction partnership to promote Cheltenham's premier horse racing venue as a key tourism driver.
• Visit GloucestercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership within Cotswolds Plus LVEP and joint 'Escape the Everyday' marketing campaign with Cheltenham.
• South West Research CompanyminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerIndependent research company that conducted economic impact analysis for the Cheltenham Christmas Ice Rink.
• GFirst LEP - Made in GloucestershireminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGFirst LEP not-for-profit initiative promoting Gloucestershire's food and drink producers. Marketing Cheltenham supports this initiative which has 120+ member businesses.
• Encore PRminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPR agency partner for promoting Cheltenham Food + Drink Week through local and regional media outlets including SoGlos and Cotswold Life.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Visit Bath: UK town-level DMO with a comparable operating model: official council-backed status, what's-on guide, accommodation/dining promotion, membership programmes, and a flagship events portfolio. Closest like-for-like at a more mature UK DMO.
• VisitBrighton: Brighton & Hove's official DMO operating a Visit-brand site, events calendar, accommodation listings and member programme. Same destination-marketing operating model, just at larger scale.
• Visit Gloucestershire: County-level DMO partner within Cotswolds Plus LVEP. Same destination-marketing mandate, multi-channel content (web, social, newsletter), and event-coordination role, just at county rather than town scale.
• Visit York: Long-established city DMO delivering destination marketing, member services and event coordination. Highly comparable in mandate and revenue mix (membership + council backing) to Marketing Cheltenham.
• Visit Dean Wye: DMO for the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley and the fifth member of Cotswolds Plus. Comparable in operating model, scale and scope, and explicitly bundled with Marketing Cheltenham for joint regional promotion.
• Visit Cornwall: Regional DMO for Cornwall with a member-funded destination marketing model and tourism-event coordination. Comparable in structure and visitor-economy mandate to Marketing Cheltenham, though at a much larger regional scale.
• Visit Gloucester: Fellow Cotswolds Plus LVEP partner and joint co-marketer on the 'Escape the Everyday' campaign. Operates as a town/regional DMO with the same visitor-economy remit, very similar product surface (events, places to stay, dine, shop), and member/partnership revenue model.
• Cotswolds Tourism: Lead DMO within the Cotswolds Plus LVEP and direct co-promoter of the broader Cotswolds region. Operates an almost identical destination-marketing model (events calendar, itineraries, accommodation listings) and shares Marketing Cheltenham's geographic remit, making it the most directly comparable peer.

Broad incumbents

• VisitBritain: National tourist board that Marketing Cheltenham partners with for funding, expertise, and travel-trade promotion. Operates destination marketing at national scale across all UK destinations, overlapping in mandate but far broader in scope.
• Visit Wales: Welsh Government national tourism body promoting Wales as a destination. Comparable destination-marketing function at national scale with council-backed governance, but covering an entire country rather than a town.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/marketing-cheltenham

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Marketing Cheltenham