‘Green tourists’ are being encouraged to visit the Burnham-On-Sea area in a new Somerset travel magazine published this month.
The magazine promoting Somerset as a sustainable tourist destination has been distributed this month in the national BBC Countryfile magazine.
The publication, ‘Somerset & Exmoor Great Escapes’, was made possible after Somerset County Council and partners secured funding as part of a EU Interreg tourism project to grow and promote sustainable rural tourism.
The guide highlights 30 different ideas to encourage breaks in Somerset and Exmoor, ranging from staying in unique accommodation and observing starling murmurations on the Somerset Levels to indulging in gourmet local food, walking in a poet’s footsteps, and experiencing Exmoor’s International Dark Sky Reserve.
Over 100 Somerset tourism related businesses that offer products and services that support these iconic experiences were identified, including accommodation providers, guided tours, food and drink providers and transport providers.
Both the experiences and supporting businesses are also being promoted online on various websites and through social media. A supporting video has also been produced to further promote the broad range of experiences available for residents and visitors to the county.
Cllr David Hall, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Business, Inward Investment and Policy, said: “I am delighted to support this initiative which should really help to highlight everything that Somerset has to offer at this crucial time of year, when so many potential visitors are planning ahead for their breaks. We are also working closely with Visit Somerset to encourage more hits on the Visit Somerset website which gives residents and visitors great ideas for day trips and longer breaks.”
Vicky Banham, Tourism Officer for Sedgemoor, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are hoping that a wide variety of tourism-related businesses from across the county will benefit from the higher profile that this initiative will generate. The campaign is ongoing via the websites of Green Traveller, Visit Exmoor and Visit Somerset so there is still an opportunity to submit offers and information if they fit the rural tourism theme.”
“We worked with our partners and with travel experts Green Traveller to select the 30 unique inspirational experiences that we thought would best highlight what the area has to offer. To identify these we issued a press release in the summer, asking businesses to take part and we contacted those who have been working with us on the COOL Tourism project which concentrates on rural areas that have not previously enjoyed the exposure of some of the larger visitor attractions and destinations.”
“We included contact details for the Burnham-On-Sea Tourist Information Centre and briefed the manager so that if readers call the Centre they will find out more about what to do there and where to stay.”
