Final Programme Available – Destination Coast! 3rd November, Grange-over-Sands

The North West Coastal Forum is pleased to announce that the final programme is now available for the North West’s biennial coastal conference – Destination Coast! – 3rd November in Grange-over-Sands, with an optional field trip to Morecambe Bay on 4th November. The event will feature the North West Awards for Coastal Excellence. We are also delighted to announce that the Coastal Partnerships Network Annual Forum is taking place immediately afterwards in the same venue and will share the field trip, bringing additional networking opportunities and a wider national coastal policy context for those who make the most of the opportunity and attend both events.

The theme of Destination Coast! is based around the coastal visitor economy, exploring the benefits and opportunities for coastal tourism and recreation for businesses and communities along the length of the North West coast.

In February 2014 the European Commission released a Communication on a European Strategy for more Growth and Jobs in Coastal and Maritime Tourism as part of the European Blue Growth agenda. Here in the UK there is an increasing focus on the ‘staycation’, and an effort to reverse the trend of recent years and encourage people to take longer breaks in the UK instead of going abroad, while short breaks, recreation-based or activity holidays and day visits contribute strongly to within-UK tourism. The North West is one of the few areas of the country that has not seen growth in coastal tourism in the last few years and yet a wealth of opportunities exists here, from the traditional resort holiday to extreme sports. Accordingly the aims of this event are to:

  • Share information about tourism and leisure issues and opportunities with direct relevance to the north west coast including key policy and legislative drivers and examples of innovative projects and best practice
  • Provide a launch pad for developing positive action to safeguard and improve the North West’s coastal visitor offer
  • Inspire North West businesses and other organisations, small and large, to reap the economic benefits of our fantastic coastal resource by developing quality of offer, improving sustainability in business operations and making the most of opportunities to promote the value and benefits of recreation and leisure on the coast – the Big Ask!

The event is aimed at everyone with an interest in developing and maximising the value of the visitor offer of the North West coast: leading tourism and recreation businesses and business organisations, key decision makers including politicians, local authority and Government Agency officers and others such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, and all those tasked with the day to day management of the coast and its visitor attractions.

Delegates will gain a greater understanding of some of the key policy drivers for the coastal visitor economy and hear about inspirational examples of how to develop and maximise opportunities from within the region and elsewhere. On the morning of Tuesday 4th November there will be an optional field trip to Morecambe Bay to see and discuss some of the inspiring tourism and recreation work being done by the Morecambe Bay Partnership and their partners.

To discuss opportunities for exhibitions, delegate pack inserts and event sponsorship please contact Caroline on [email protected] or telephone 0151 934 2966.

The Progamme and booking form for Destination Coast! is available to download below in Word and .pdf format:

Download “Destination Coast Flyer Word”

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Download “Destination Coast Flyer PDF”

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