Rain can't ruin...

It’s raining. Again.

It might not be raining all the time, but the idea of a rainy summer can deter potential visitors. It dampens (sorry!) the spirits of those who do visit too, so referrals may be lower than usual.

What can you do?

Obviously you can’t stop the rain, but you can change perceptions.

Here are a couple of suggestions that work:

1. Don’t moan, especially on social media. Everyone knows the weather isn’t great. You don’t need to add to the misery

2. Don’t deny that it’s a little damp outside, but do focus on the positives – show photos of indoor activities, rainbows, people who’re enjoying whatever they’re doing outdoors, cosy cafes and pubs etc. You might need to think about enhancing what you do slightly, such as adding some board games into a holiday cottage so you can show photos of a game laid out. 

3. Create your own rain-can’t-ruin list of local activities. If you can join forces with other businesses in your area to do this, you’ll make more of an impact. Put this list on your website, mention it in social media, include a link to it in your mailings, print it off for people to use.

A few years ago when we had a rainy summer and businesses were struggling, I started a simple activity in the Yorkshire Dales – a collaborative list of 100 rain-can’t-ruin activities. It was surprisingly easy to get to 100, and when we got creative it quickly went up to 150. We all shared the list as widely as possible, and before we knew it, our ideas were featured on BBC Look North, in local and national papers and radio stations. During the Summer months when parliament is in recess, there can be less political news and most news outlets are ready to report less serious stories. 

If the weather is bad, journalists will feature the weather but after a while this is no-longer news so they look for other weather related stories. This could be something you’re doing, innovations and collaborations to attract visitors or different ways to enjoy your area even when the weather isn’t great.

What could you do, to make visitors smile?