VisitNewquay.org

VisitNewquay.org

Thu 30th Apr

no doubt many of you will have seen the recent news article in the Newquay Guardian regarding Newquay’s official website (VisitNewquay.org)...

I am writing this letter as a businessman, father, resident of Newquay — and I suppose in a roundabout way, one of the “key figures” responsible for this incident (I was on the panel that selected our Business Development Manager, as was Mike McLaren).

Let me first make clear from the outset, that I believe there is no place on Newquay’s official website for content that may cause offence to others — that being said, I listened to the song in question, I can honestly say that I struggled to understand a word of it (rap isn’t really my thing — I’m more of a Doors, and Stones fan, and as for some of their lyrics…).

So I looked the lyrics up on the internet…

... the definition of racism (from the Oxford English Dictionary) is: –

“discrimination against or antagonism towards other races”

the usage of the offending word in the song was by an African American, refering to his fellow African Americans — that is not racism (it’s exactly this kind of knee-jerk reaction that continues to give a word dating back to 1619 such power).

The song is not racist, but it is inappropriate for Newquay’s official website, and I congratulate the team for removing the video so speedily once they were made aware of it’s content — if only the anonymous complainant had contacted them directly rather than sending a sensationalist letter to the press, the video could have been removed even sooner.

I believe VisitNewquay.org is a great asset to the town — my business being one of many to benefit from the positive attention it has received. In the first 4 months of 2009 VisitNewquay.org sent 1000 visitors to my website, compared to the 600 I received from it’s predecessor (over the same period in 2008), and the number of website visitors jumping from 20,000 last month to nearly 30,000 this month is a good indicator that VisitNewquay.org has yet to reach it’s true potential — well done, keep up the good work.

I commend the team for dipping into the murky territory of YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, Blogging, social media — finding new and innovative ways to market Newquay – taking a risk to get the maximum value for money out of Newquay’s marketing budget — well done, keep up the good work.

Mistakes happen, that’s part of life — what’s important is that we learn from them (I have little doubt that by now stricter procedures are in place to screen content posted to the website). I’m glad we have someone so dedicated and hard-working marketing Newquay, I am proud that we have an award winning website selling Newquay to the world, and grateful we have someone prepared to take a risk to make the most of — for a destination such Newquay — a shoestring budget. Once again — well done, keep up the good work.

I hope that many of you will agree with me that VisitNewquay.org is something to be praised, not condemned, and that TourismNewquay is heading in the right direction.

—
Andy Weir
Goofys – Newquay