United Kingdom: Harnessing the power of green tourism

Harnessing the power of green tourism

Norfolk County will soon be attracting pilgrims with an off peak tourism offer built around the local traditions and sustainability. Practices from Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the UK inspired a project to develop this offer and measure its sustainability.

The project ‘Green pilgrimage supporting natural and cultural heritage’ (Green Pilgrimage) brings together seven partners from five countries. Their goal is to protect the natural and cultural heritage along their pilgrimage routes. Through low impact tourism, digitalisation, pilgrim accommodation and strengthening local traditions, they also want to create jobs in their regions.

Norfolk County Council joined the project to discover smart ways to reap the economic and cultural benefits of pilgrimage for their county. The Council was also keen to develop better indicators to analyse these benefits from a sustainability perspective.

At a study visit in Spain, the Council identified techniques for measuring the economic and sustainability impacts of pilgrim-based tourism on regional heritage, enabling them to review their own

5,800,000

ERDF

Policy improved directly by the Managing Authority for EU Structural Funds in the East Anglia region.

© Green Pilgrimage

indicators. Case studies on off-season tourism in Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden and neighbouring Kent also informed discussions between the Council and the Interreg France (Channel) England Programme about a project to develop an innovative experiential off-season tourism offer. The project they developed, called EXPERIENCE, later received 5.8 million euros from the Programme.

UNITED KINGDOM

The project aims to show how activities such as pilgrimage can take place outside the peak season and generate a greater economic benefit for the local area. The new indicators measure visitor numbers as well as the relative benefits and sustainability of tourists visiting during the off peak season.