Step 1 - Understanding Tourism

Overview

Do you know what tourism is? Do you understand why it’s important? Are you aware of the benefits and drawbacks? Well that’s the key aim of this step, to help you understand the nature of tourism and to give you a starting block to take a project forward.

Why is this step important?

A good understanding of tourism will certainly help you develop a robust project that can have real benefits, and ensure you recognise the potential impacts and deal with them effectively. Having that understanding can also help you overcome negative attitudes to visitors you may encounter amongst the community

What is Tourism?

There are many definitions of tourism, but broadly it refers to travelling outside the place you live or work to undertake activities outside your normal routine. The person who does this is a visitor, and they come in many shapes and forms. They also visit rural destinations for a variety of reasons, which may include:

To walk or cycle in the local countryside,
Shop in independent shops or markets,
Attend a festival or other event,
Visit family and friends,
Have a drink or meal,
Find out about their family history,
Discover local heritage,
Experience rural life
Relax and enjoy a change of scenery

Tourism often has a poor reputation as it conjures images of coach loads of nosy people spilling into our towns and villages. Whilst this stereotype can exist, it is a very small sector of the visitor market, even more so in the context of rural tourism in the UK.

Benefits of Tourism

Tourism can be economically and socially important for many rural towns and villages if managed well. The major benefits tourism can bring are:

Income to businesses, helping to keep the town or village vibrant and keep local
shops and businesses open – also benefiting residents
Additional customers for services that also benefit the community such as:

public transport,
public toilets,
more attractive surroundings (public seating, flower displays etc),
events and activities such as local produce markets or countryside walks

Helping to value and protect community assets (history, architecture, landscape etc)
It requires groups and businesses to work together to present an attractive, unified image of their place, bringing community members together.
It encourages people to think about why their place is special, promoting pride.

The Potential negatives

There are also a few negative issues to think about and plan for, however you can minimise and manage these issues by considering them in any plans you make :

Increased traffic and need for parking, especially for special events
Invasion of privacy – are there attractive buildings that are also people’s homes?
Lack of community consensus on the need for tourism, causing resentment of their
presence by some community members
Possible strain on inadequate infrastructure, such as toilets

The Process

If you are considering a tourism project, simply begin by doing some research, look at what other people do, read through some of the myriad of tourism theory and research available. But all in all try and understand what tourism means, and how it works.

Overall responsibility for Tourism in the UK is held by Visit Britain and its national and regional partners; Visit England, Visit Scotland, Visit Wales, The Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Visit London, and the 8 regional development agencies. Here in the South East, tourism for the region is delivered by Tourism South East (the regional tourist board) and many of the local authorities, both at county, district and local level.

You can find out more about tourism in the UK from the Visit Britain Industry site, it’s worth looking at some of the facts and figures and acquainting yourself with current trends before you start. If you want more local information then Tourism South East also have regional research and data on their industry site, as well as links to sub regional organisations.

These sites are also a good place to browse the information available on your area to see what kind of information is already out there. It is also useful to do a general search using a search engine of your town or village to get a potential visitor’s impression of the information available.

Where can I get more information?

For a good overview and introduction to the whole process of tourism development:

Tourism Guidance for Market Towns by Tourism South East (pdf file 4mb) >>

Rural Area Tourism Guidance Notes by Tourism South East (pdf file 900kb) >>

For tourism trends, statistics and background visit:

www.tourismtrade.org.uk >>

www.industry.visitsoutheastengland.com >>

Downloads & Help

If you require advice or guidance, why not consider working with Hidden Britain?

Go to Contact Form >>

Move onto the next stage

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