Visitor Elves
There are thousands of talented people working behind the scenes in tourism, hospitality, events and destination marketing. Are you one of them?
Join me, Kelly Ballard, as I chat with award-winning business owners and those making magic in attracting and delighting visitors in the West of England, UK.
If you're wanting to connect with and learn from others in the visitor economy, this show is for you.
For more information about me and the show, visit www.visitorelves.co.uk
Visitor Elves
EP 44 From Boomtown to Wake the Tiger - How this festival organiser created a successful visitor attraction in the heart of Bristol
In today's episode, my conversation with Graham MacVoy, Managing Director of the visitor attraction Wake the Tiger in Bristol, truly blew my mind.
Wake the Tiger is the permanent 'baby' created by the team running the unique Boomtown festival.
The pandemic has much to answer for, but it gave Graham and his directors the headspace to provide a more permanent base for their creative ideas, so the 'amazement park' Wake the Tiger was created and opened in 2022.
I listened in awe in this episode as Graham revealed how his love of snowboarding led to his career running snowboarding events in Europe, which led to his owning a company that led operations at festivals such as Creamfields, BST Hyde Park, and Boomtown.
Graham talked about how the Wake the Tiger was a huge punt of an idea which thankfully saw 190,000 in its first year of operations.
Wake the Tiger has brought Boomtown's talent and creativity into a permanent space that blows people’s minds and challenges us to think differently and creatively to make a difference to our lives and our planet.
He discusses everything from learning to run a visitor attraction to the importance of the arts and creativity in changing society.
Graham is an inspiration, and his out-of-the-box thinking about how we should behave as human beings and what is important certainly left me questioning everything about life!
He also talks about his love for his hometown of Dursley, Gloucestershire, on the Cotswold Way.
I hope you enjoy the episode.
Read the transcript here https://visitorelves.co.uk/podcast/
Learn more and follow Wake the Tiger:
LinkedIn Company page
This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling.
Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations.
They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today.
Find out more about the marketing strategy and mentoring services with the Visitor Elves.
To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn
If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏
