Tourism

The NW Europe landscape contributes significantly to the local economy through tourism. In the UK, in some heathland areas, 83% of tourists name the conserved environment as a key reason for their visit, There are similar experiences from the Netherlands and France,  particularly in Brittany, Normandy and the Hogue Veluwe National Park.

The project aims to investigate the link between heathland landscapes with the tourist economy. It also aims to develop the knowledge base of tourism interactions and to investigate visitor experiences, pay back schemes and other mechanisms for generating revenue from tourism.

There are many actions being delivered across the project, including:

Site interpretation, self guided trails and a Green Map - introducing improved interpretation and information panels to communicate sites and their ecological and historical value. The Green Map will provide a web based Cornwall wide service promoting landscapes and local sustainable facilities, services and businesses.

Integrated visitor plans - looking at visitor experiences, limits of acceptable change and an assessment of how sites can be improved without impacting on the natural resource.

Visitor payback report - looking at public experiences of, and potential for, tourism payback schemes to support heathland management.

Sustainable transport appraisal - a report on sustainable transport within a representative landscape scale heathland environment, assessing transport to sites for all mobility forms.

Strategic plan for tourism and heathlands - this follows on from the Integrated Visitor Plan an will investigate the possible linkages that can be incorporated with HEATH as a component of visitor experiences.

Copies of any reports will be available from this site when complete.

For further information on this work in the UK, please contact Jemma Roberts on (+44) 01872 562057

Marketing

In order to connect the management of heathland to the local economy it is necessary to develop markets for heathland products and services. The UK and other partners will investigate the development of this emerging niche market as well as developing links with local farmers.

In Cornwall this work will include identifying possible products, building the producer network, determining entry criteria, monitoring participant compliance and identifying potential marketing techniques.

PDF reports will be available from this page when completed (mid 2007).