We believe this Strategy represents a huge opportunity for the South West. Tourism makes up 10% of our GDP and supports over 300,000 jobs, but 26 million staying visitors each year impose a heavy burden too. Can we increase the benefits while reducing the problems to manageable levels? That is the challenge we’ve tackled, head on.

We looked at tourism through the eyes of the visitors, those who work in the industry as owners as well as their employees and most importantly, the local communities. The visitors want to enjoy better quality each year, from service to food, to cleaner countryside and beaches. Local people also want to see improvements in the quality of their environment, and there is a real match between what the people who live in the region want and those who come to visit us.

More and more of our visitors also have very clear ideas of what they want to do with their valuable “downtime”, and will go where they can do it and will be helped to do it, whether their interest is sitting on the beach, walking, surfing, or exploring beautiful gardens. They want effective, speedy information and support. So the websites, marketing campaigns, brochures, Tourist Information Centres and the Tourism Offices have to work smoothly together, in more cost effective ways. This means more genuine partnerships between the tourism businesses and local government at the destination, and better liaison with South West Tourism (SWT), the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) and the other regional partners too.

The Strategy has detailed plans to achieve all of this. It also recognises that it is our natural and built environment which is, for most visitors, the single strongest draw. So we have turned vague talk about nurturing the environment into plans which, we are convinced, will make a real difference on the ground. This is a big and important agenda, and one which supports many of the other priorities of the region including helping rural regeneration - notably by promoting local food and drink - offering opportunities to improve health and fitness, and backing those with cultural and sporting interests. This Strategy is backed enthusiastically by the South West of England Regional Development Agency, whose primary objective is to improve the economic prosperity of the region and by South West Tourism, whose role is to facilitate the implementation of the Strategy. But this is a Strategy for the entire region. South West Tourism will be working with Local Authorities and other partners to achieve the first ever integrated delivery at regional, sub-regional, and local level. By working together at all three levels we can make the South West more prosperous and successful. As well as a role model recognised everywhere for responsible tourism development and management, we can make the most of the work being undertaken at a national level by Visit Britain.

12 January 2005