We hope that all our friends, colleagues and clients past and present are staying safe and healthy following the rapid global developments with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.
In the last weeks our small team have worked tirelessly in assisting our booked guests to make new arrangements and ensure safe rescheduling travel plans for the future. We would like to thank the vast majority of our guests who have shown both understanding and compassion as we have worked with you through extremely challenging and worrying times for everyone.
As of today (22 April 2020) the UK is still in lock-down; we are determined to uphold our service levels but we thank you for your patience if we take longer than usual to respond at this time.
We have now contacted all of our clients who were scheduled to travel throughout April & May 2020. We politely ask that anyone who is scheduled travel beyond the end of May 2020 to remain patient until we are in a position to contact you with further information on your booking.
It is with great sadness that many of our clients are unable to take their trips as planned but we would like you to know that we look forward to welcoming you to Northern Britain as soon as this situation passes.
For more information about the course please contact Paul Mullins on [email protected] or call 0151 334 84 29 / 07860 6810781
Experience North Ltd is offering fluent German speakers, passionate about travel, the opportunity to undertake workshops leading to paid work in the tourism industry in both Liverpool and Scotland.
A similar course ran in 2018 in Newcastle providing more German-speaking tour guides & managers to support the increase in German cruise visitors to the region. Anna Unger was one of them.
Anna has now lived in the UK for 12 years, a former tour guide in Munich, Anna is from Lake Constance in southern Germany. On arrival in the UK, Anna booked a private tour with one of the only German-speaking guides in North East England. Alex Jacobs had just completed his Blue Badge Guiding course and was setting up Northern Secrets Ltd at the time.
Now working alongside Paul Mullins as Experience North Ltd, in both the North West and North East as well as Scotland, Alex is looking to recruit more German-speaking guides & tour managers, just like Anna.
Why did the course appeal to you?
I’d worked as a guide in Germany and knew it was something I enjoyed, but it wasn’t easy to find a way into the industry in the UK. Training to be a Blue Badge Guide is quite expensive and there wasn’t going to be a course imminently, so I was very interested in training to work with cruise tourists when I heard about the Experience North Ltd series of workshops.
What did the course cover?
Everything you could need to know in terms of the basics was covered. There is essential theory, but it is also very practical. It really is learning on the job. The workshop has equipped me with the knowledge and tools to guide cruise passengers to many attractions and destinations. It is great as a refresher course for anyone who has guided in the past but also as an entry point into the tourism industry and guiding. A great way of testing out whether guiding is for you, before embarking on a course that requires much more personal investment, in terms of both time and money.
What did you expect to happen afterwards?
Alex was very honest about the expectations of work following the course. I was looking for flexible work that I could fit around my other commitments and I’ve been able to work approximately 100 days during my first year guiding for German tourists.
What kind of work have you undertaken?
Much of the work has been day trips for cruise passengers arriving at the Port of Tyne as well as mini-cruise groups of German guests arriving by DFDS ferry. Most of these trips go to Newcastle and Durham, but some have also taken me to Alnwick and Hadrian’s Wall. I’ve also hosted the guided Vera Tour, a partnership with Brit Movie Tours and Experience North Ltd, which take in more than 10 locations in North East England that feature in episodes of the iconic TV crime drama series
What has been your favourite experience guiding in North East England?
The Prosecco picnic that a 60th birthday party enjoyed on one of the Vera tours I hosted is a favourite. The whole coach thoroughly enjoyed themselves celebrating and singing alongside the party who came fully prepared in their own t-shirts, hats and food with fizz. Locals discovered so much about their own area, and overseas tourists certainly experienced the infamous northeast welcome.
What benefit has the course been to you?
Guiding is so much fun, it’s different every day and enables me to meet lots of new different people. As well as providing me with the opportunity to work flexibly in an industry and location that I love, it has also given me enough experience, confidence, skills and knowledge to go ahead and train to become a Blue Badge Guide (this should be, and hopefully successfully, completed by mid 2021). There is always a shortage of guides with additional language skills so I’d whole-heartedly encourage anyone who can speak fluent German and loves to talk to people and travel to think about taking advantage of these training opportunities.
Courses will run in Scotland and Liverpool in March 2020.
For more information about the course please contact Paul Mullins on [email protected] or call 0151 334 84 29 / 07860 6810781
We have launched a new training course leading to paid work for fluent German speakers to support the tourism industry in Scotland
Experience North Ltd is a Destination Management Company, working closely with tourist attractions and tour operators, looking for people who are fluent in German, including German nationals living in Scotland, to take part in a 5-day training program in March so they can help tour manage German tourist groups on extended trips around the region whilst they are in Scotland.
The 5-day course will take place from 12-15 March 2020 to prepare new tour managers for the forthcoming busy period in the tourism calendar. The workshop will include both theory-based sessions and practical training excursions. Once trained, these new tour managers will then work with Experience North Ltd to accompany German-speaking tour groups on extended tours across Scotland, to help them make the most out of their visit to Scotland.
Alex Jacobs, MD of Experience North Ltd said: “Scotland is hugely popular with German tour groups and demand outstrips capacity with regards to tour managers. The workshop is being created in direct response to the lack of German-speaking tour managers.
“Scotland has so much culture and heritage to offer visitors, but currently we just don’t have enough German speaking tour leaders to meet the demand. A tourist guide with a translator is an alternative for some tours, but not a solution to multi-day cultural holidays. We hope through specialist training we can increase the number of German-speaking tour leaders and further support tourism in Scotland” said Alex.
Alex himself is bi-lingual and has dual British and German nationality. He is a qualified Blue Badge Tourist Guide and has been bringing trips and tours to Northern England and Scotland from Europe since 2008.
“We are really looking to train outgoing people, who enjoy showing off where they live, talking in German with people and who are willing to learn and share their passion with visitors. It is also a great opportunity for someone looking to get started in the guiding and tourism industry. This could lead on to becoming a Blue Badge Guide or working in the wider industry in future.”
The training course will cost £195.00 and will run for 4 days and cover the following:
Best practice in tourist guiding / tour management
Crisis management
Specific training for coach tours
Training in theory & practice of the most popular routes
Edinburgh city tour (theory & practice)
Accommodation for 3 nights (BB) for anyone not local to the area
For more information about the workshop please contact Paul Mullins (email: [email protected] / 0151 334 84 29 / 07810 860 681
We are working closely with tourist attractions and cruise operators in the region, and looking for people who are fluent in German, including German nationals living in Liverpool and the surrounding region to take a series of free workshops. The workshops will equip participants on the programme with the knowledge and tools to guide cruise passengers to attractions in Liverpool and destinations further afield like, Port Sunlight, Chester and Manchester.
Our free weekend workshops will take place over four weekends during March and will prepare new guides for the forthcoming busy summer cruise season. Once trained, our new German speaking guides will then work with us on a self-employed basis, accompanying German-speaking cruise passengers on shore excursions across the region, to help them make the most out of their visit to the North West.
Cruise tourism in the North West needs more fluent German language speakers to help support the growing industry. 2019 was a record-breaking year for cruise calls to Liverpool with 86 calls, and 2020 is expected to bring an increase of a further 20%, taking cruise calls to Liverpool to over 100.
11 per cent of the cruise ship passengers in 2020 to Liverpool will be German speaking. Popular shore excursions for German visitors will include excursions in Liverpool to The Beatles Story, Speke Hall, Port Sunlight and the city’s cathedrals, as well as to Manchester and Chester city centres.
Paul Mullins, Director, Experience North Ltd said: “Liverpool has successfully increased the number of cruise calls, and now the growth in the number of German visitors means more German speaking guides are required. The workshops have been created in direct response to the lack of German-speaking guides and will support German Cruise Lines visiting Liverpool.”
“Liverpool, Chester and Manchester have so much culture and heritage to offer visitors, but currently we just don’t have enough German Speaking Guides to meet the demand. An English-speaking guide with a translator is an alternative, but not a perfect solution. We hope through specialist training we can increase the number of German-speaking guides and further support cruise operators,” said Paul.
“We are really looking to train outgoing people, who like walking and talking in German with people, who are willing to learn and share their passion for this region with visitors. It is also a great opportunity for someone looking to get started in the guiding and tourism industry.”
One of Experience North Ltd partners is Intercruises Shoreside and Port Services, an experienced global business offering turnaround, shore excursions, port agency and hotel services to the ocean and river cruise industry.
Benjamin Hick, Head of UK, Ireland and Northern Countries said: “Germany is the world’s second-largest cruise source market, and its proximity to the UK will result in greater demand for German speakers in the very near future. We fully endorse any initiatives to increase the capacity of the German-speaking tourist infrastructure in Northern English ports.”
The free workshop will run for four weeks and cover best practice and what to expect whilst guiding a group of approximately 40 people, how to deal with the pitfalls that can happen and testing out some of the most popular day trips themselves.
For more information about the course please contact Paul Mullins on [email protected] or call 0151 334 84 29/07810860681
Fans of the ITV drama Vera will now be able to enjoy a 4-hour tour of the region taking in some of the shows’ most iconic hotspots in 2019 with a new Brit Movie Tour delivered by Experience North DMC.
The news comes as ITV confirms that the next series of Vera will start on Sunday 13 January at 8pm, when Brenda Blethyn will once again play the unorthodox but brilliantly perceptive Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, in four chilling feature-length episodes set against the backdrop of the North East.
The award-winning show has attracted a following of fans all over the world in ITV’s best-loved detective drama and now they will have the chance to follow in her footsteps on this new coach tour run by Brit Movie Tours.
The award-winning crime drama is both set in and filmed in Newcastle upon Tyne and throughout Northumberland in the North East England, the Vera tour will focus on visiting some of the most memorable crime scenes and regular haunts of Vera.
Based on the bestselling Inspector Stanhope books by award-winning writer Ann Cleeves, Vera is a crime drama set in and filmed in Newcastle upon Tyne and throughout Northumberland in the North East England, the Vera tour will focus on visiting some of the most memorable crime scenes and regular haunts of Vera.
“Vera has become an iconic TV show and we are thrilled to be able to take visitors to some of the locations that appear in the show,” said Alex Jacobs, Experience North DMC. “As well as the specific locations it will be great to showcase North East England to new visitors.”
Newcastle, the home of Vera’s police station, is a vibrant city and along with some memorable filming locations you can discover how the city has changed from its industrial past to become an iconic and modern hub. The show is also popular as it showcases some of Northumberland’s atmospheric rural and beachside locations where grisly murders take place and some of these will also be visited as part of the tour.
Lewis Swan, Managing Director, Brit Movie Tours, said:
‘We are very excited to launch the Vera Tour in the North East of England. It’s a beautiful and fascinating part of the country which we have not until now offered tours of. Fans are in for a treat when they visit Newcastle to do the tour and we look forward to welcoming them in 2019.”
Tours cost £30 for adults and £25 for under 16s.
Tours start at 1pm on Saturday 25 May, 29 Jun, 27 July, 17 Aug, 14 Sep 2019.
Brit Movie Tours is the premier provider of Film and TV location sightseeing tours in London and the UK.
We are looking forward to a big New Year 2019 – cruise ships galore in Newcastle, Liverpool and North Wales; an exciting new booking system making bookings easy for our clients; tailored FIT arrangements; new web design and a new package incorporating ‘Kynren – An Epic Tale of England’!
The North’s booming cruise liner industry has been very buoyant this year for a new northern business, as north of England ports prove popular for overseas holidaymakers sailing to the UK.
In 2018 Experience North have been directly involved as a ground handling partner with 50 cruise ships coming into Port of Tyne, Hull, Holyhead and Liverpool across the North of England. Over 90,000 passengers have been offered shore excursion programmes with 40 different tours on offer across the ports to key attractions and local destinations.
Alex Jacobs, Director, Experience North said: “We have partnered with a record-breaking number of cruise ships this year and very nearly reached 100,000 passengers.
“We deliver a tailored service to suit any visiting cruise line to the regions and work closely with our international ground handling partners during each cruise call to ensure each and every cruise passenger has the best possible stay in this country. We are very much looking forward to breaking these records again in 2019.”
Experience North has worked with major cruise lines this year including Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Lines, and CMV and are also exclusive partners to two of the major global operators KUONI Destination Management and Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services.
The Tour de Yorkshire is now the 2nd biggest pro stage race in the UK behind the Tour of Britain. Everyone remembers the scenes from the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France of the big crowds standing by the roadside to cheer on the riders. The roads in Yorkshire can be challenging which makes for great racing. In 2019 the Tour de Yorkshire will host 4 days of men’s racing and 2 days of women’s racing.
Thursday 3 May, 2018 – Beverley to Doncaster – 182km – (Women 134km)
Friday 4 May, 2018 – Barnsley to Ilkley (149km) – Women 124km
Saturday 5 May, 2018 – Richmond to Scarborough (184km)
Sunday 6 May, 2018 – Halifax to Leeds (189.5km)
The ongoing success and popularity of cycling in Yorkshire means that Yorkshire will also host the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, the pinnacle event in the international road cycling calendar, from 22nd – 29th Sep 2019
The huge light spectacle Lumiere is set to return to Durham for another year to mark 10th anniversary of captivating visitors. The event, which takes place in Durham city centre every two years, has brought some amazing sights and sounds to the region over the past decade and some of its most eye-catching attractions are being lined up to return in November 2019.
In July 2018 the Tall Ships fleet will create a stunning spectacle on the banks of the River Wear and within the prestigious Port of Sunderland.
The event will take place from Wednesday 11th July to Saturday 14th July and there will be numerous activities and attractions around the city for everyone to enjoy, absorbing visitors in a festival of culture that celebrates both the city’s maritime heritage and cultural renaissance.
The ships will be open for free public access at set times, many ships will host exclusive deck events for which tickets may be purchased, or entire deck events may be booked.
The event promises to be a spectacle from start to finish with key elements that include a Crew Parade and stunning Parade of Sail.
Wednesday 11 July – Ships will arrive by lunchtime – making spectacular viewing from the seafront and around the quaysides of the River Wear.
Thursday 12 July – The ships’ crews will enjoy a morning of sport and culture before the upbeat Crew Parade through the city from the Port, bringing a true international carnival atmosphere to the streets. The Parade is intended to thank the host port for their hospitality and everyone is welcome to come along and join the festivities. The parade will conclude with a prize-giving Ceremony in the city centre with prizes being awarded to ships and individuals for a range of disciplines and achievements.
Friday 13 July – Race business starts to get serious as the Captains receive their brief from Sail Training International officials. The sail trainees that will undertake the first leg of the Races to Esbjerg arrive to join their ships.
Saturday 14 July – The ships will be closed for public access as they make final preparations for the Races. They will un-dock over the course of the afternoon and move out into the North Sea in a stunning Parade of Sail.
