Over 50 local businesses got to experience a new way to make business connections at an extremely successful event organised by Cotswolds Tourism at the end of March. The Local Connections speed dating event brought together accommodation businesses with local makers, producers, service providers and other small businesses to see if they’d like to work together in the future.
On the day the supplier businesses had three minutes with each accommodation provider to tell them about their business, answer any questions and find out about the accommodation themselves. There was also networking time over coffee and lunch for businesses to have longer conversations.
Chris Jackson, Cotswolds Tourism lead said ‘This was the first speed dating event that we’ve organised and it was wonderful to see businesses embracing the opportunity to take part and building connections with other local businesses. We hope to run more events like this in the future, dependent on securing funding.’
The event was developed following a sustainable tourism survey carried out by Cotswolds Tourism last year, which clearly showed a desire from accommodation providers to buy more locally and work more closely with local businesses, but that their biggest barrier was the time to research and meet businesses.
The benefits of creating more ‘local connections’ aren’t only for the businesses themselves, this project will also enhance the sense of place experienced by visitors and reduce transport mileage of goods, making another small step to protect our environment.
As not all the businesses who wanted to take part could attend in person an online directory of supplier businesses has been created and is being promoted to tourism businesses across the area.