We close the pages on The Southampton Pocket Guide
Our publication The Southampton Pocket Guide has been providing visitors to the city of Southampton an insight into what’s on and where to go during their visit for 10 years. Sadly, due to the repercussions of the pandemic and the challenging year faced by the tourism industry, the current 2020 edition will be its last.
The guide, independently produced by our team here at The Marketing Collective, is released annually and packed full of information on sights to see, places to visit, and reasons to stay that little bit longer! Aimed at promoting what Southampton has to offer to its visitors, The Southampton Pocket Guide has been available at cruise terminals, information points, hotels, and venues across the city. Over the 10 years, over 1 million copies of the guide have been printed to attract visitors into the city.
We have independently published the guide since 2010, which has relied on advertising revenue to produce, print, and distribute it. As a destination marketing company, our small team used their passion for the city to fill a tourism information gap, producing destination videos, social media and campaigns to promote the city.
The decline of printed advertising and the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in reduced marketing budgets and business closures across the tourism and hospitality businesses, thus impacting the continuation of the guide.
Our MD, Jo Andrews, says, “The Southampton Pocket Guide is as old as the business. It was the flagship project that I launched this company on. All we have ever wanted to do is support businesses across the city and see Southampton thrive as a destination on the south coast. Over the years the decline in print advertising has meant the guide has barely covered costs but we kept it going because it remained a highly regarded and utilised source for visitors to the city.
Without additional funding and the effects COVID-19 is having on businesses, it is time to draw a line. We have supported Southampton’s tourism economy for many years and will continue to do so, particularly on the lead up to the City of Culture bid. We want the city to flourish after the pandemic, but sadly we can no longer support it with The Southampton Pocket Guide.”
To support The Southampton Guide digitally with an online presence, we created a website and social media channels, these will also be closed at the end of the year.