TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER FOR
EAST NORFOLK PATHFINDER AREA
FINAL REPORT
JANUARY 2011
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
CONTENTS
1
ABOUT THIS PAPER ........................................................................ 3
2
FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND ....................................................... 6
3
THE ACCOMMODATION OFFER ................................................... 10
4
FOOD AND DRINK .......................................................................... 14
5
EVENTS AND FESTIVALS ............................................................. 17
2
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
1 ABOUT THIS PAPER
This is a Tourism Development Paper for the East Norfolk Pathfinder area. It is a companion to the Marketing Framework and Action Plan
and focuses on a selection of development activities that will help the area achieve its tourism potential and maximise the effectiveness
of marketing activity.
The Pathfinder area is the eastern coastal strip between
Overstrand and Horsey, and stretches inland to include the market
towns of North Walsham and Stalham and their rural hinterland.
The area has some beautiful beaches and benefits from the big
skies and open landscapes that are typical of Norfolk and central
to its appeal. However, the built environment and visitor
infrastructure and facilities do not always match that in terms of
quality and sense of place. So this plan identifies the actions which
need to be taken to:
 Reinforce local distinctiveness
 Encourage more visitor activity and spend.
It focuses on actions of particular relevance to priority markets
The actions are designed to help fill the gaps in the destination experience. Much of the activity requires public sector funding to coordinate
and/or deliver. We recognise that resources will influence how quickly some activities can be delivered.
3
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
FOUR PRIORITY AREAS
We are proposing the Pathfinder area moves forward on the four following areas of tourism related development activity .................
 Finding your way around
 Accommodation offer
 Food and drink
 Events and festivals
OUR CONTEXT
These development activities have been selected because they are fundamental to the delivery of the tourism vision for the Pathfinder area
which is...........
To create a place that is well-known as a great base to explore Norfolk to relive the nostalgia of childhood holidays in a place that
celebrates the best of the traditional beach holiday. It will be known as a safe get-away-from it all destination; a place to relax, take
time out to explore and to rediscover forgotten pleasures.
The actions are practical and deliverable.
They respond to the identified opportunities for East Norfolk...............
 The beaches and the quality of the coast
 The large number of bedspaces, particularly self-catering and caravans - an ideal place to stay and explore, especially for families
 Proximity to the well-established destination of ‘The Broads’, the city-break destination of Norwich, the resort of Great Yarmouth and to
the-up-and-coming resorts of Cromer and Sherringham and the village of Holt
4
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
 An area that offers a quiet haven to retreat and relax, away from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life
 Opportunities to focus on the traditional beach holiday - slowing down the pace of life, memories of childhood holidays – beach holidays
as they used to be.
 Opportunities to make more of the open countryside as a safe place, offering easy walking and cycling opportunities.
And begin to tackle some challenges connected with visitor facilities and sense of place.......
 There are limited opportunities for visitors to spend
 The eating out offer is limited – very few restaurants and cafes celebrate or champion local food
 The tourism season is short – extending it is one way to grow capacity and maximise business growth potential
 The area has a very traditional accommodation offer, dominated by static caravan parks - the layout and presentation of some sites is
unattractive and detracts from sense of place
 Not all the visitor infrastructure is in place – in particular brown signs, interpretation, visitor information and beach infrastructure
 Coastal erosion means this part of Norfolk may appear less appealing as a place to attract inward and new investment by tourism
businesses, retailers and designer-makers.
They have been designed with our priority market segments in mind. These are..........
 Mini-Explorer Families
 Budding Explorer Families
 Experienced Explorers
 Relaxing Greys
5
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
2 FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND
The Pathfinder area lacks much of the visitor infrastructure and information visitors expect to find in a destination to help explore with
confidence and develop a better understanding about what makes the destination special. East Norfolk needs to help visitors:
 Find out what there is to do – providing continuity between destination promotion (pre-arrival) and destination information (during their
stay)
 Find their way around – clear road and pedestrian signing that is aimed at visitors who don’t know the area
 Understand what they are looking at – communicate the stories that make the place special at points where the visitor is experiencing that
story.
This activity is a combination of information (facts) and interpretation (education and communication of selected themes and stories).
APPROACH
 Deliver joined-up information and interpretation for each of the main destinations
 Use a variety of communication tools for information and interpretation – signs, panels, print and new media.
 Deliver clear, consistent and joined-up information across the Pathfinder area focusing on brown road signs to the main destination towns,
attractions and beaches and signing and interpretation at those key locations.
 Evolve leaflet information over time to bring together the plethora of print to focus on a place-led approach that reflects the practical
information that visitors need (places to eat, shops etc) and the way visitors explore and experience the destination and to provide
complementary non-print options (see Tourism Marketing Plan for detail)
 Provide inspirational, educational and engaging interpretation at key locations designed to a high quality and consistent design, so that it
positively contributes to sense of place
6
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
ACTION PLAN
Action
Visitor Signing
Brown tourist signs to key beaches – Sea Palling,
Overstrand, Mundesley
Brown tourist signs to main villages – N Walsham
and Stalham
Visitor Information
Rationalise and improve quality and targeting of
local visitor information print (see Tourism Marketing
Plan)
Develop a series of themed podcasts to reduce
reliance on print, encourage visitors to explore, add
interest and diversity to visitor communications
Interpretation
Themed interpretation panels at key beaches and
villages/towns - Sea Palling, Mundesley,
Overstrand, N Walsham and Stalham
Comment
Priority
Include parking ‘P’ on sign and other symbols as appropriate e.g.
watersports, select routes with good road access and attractive route
that creates good first impression and minimises disturbance for
residents
Sign to include symbols for facilities e.g. places to eat, historic
church etc. on arrival follow up with clear pedestrian signing from car
park as appropriate. This delivers information and improves
welcome, positions the place as one that welcomes visitors.
High – no
current
provision
Focus on suggested itineraries targeting priority markets, built
around a combination of things to do and see, places to eat and with
a destination focus
Evolve over
time to replace
current
provision as
print runs out
High –
opportunity to
introduce new
product and
feature on
website
Make available from North Norfolk web site – include coastal
walks/cycling routes, villages trails and over time develop niche
market interests too e.g. gardens, churches, etc. Podcasts that have
a personalised touch add to distinctiveness. For example narrative
from a RSPB Manager on a typical day of bird watching at Sea
Palling or an artist talks about what they find captivating about the
landscape from a painter’s perspective.
Site panels at key locations e.g. sea front, car parks, viewpoints etc.
Ensure consistent quality design that reflects the setting, contributes
to sense of place and uses robust materials that are weather
resistant and suitable for a seafront location. Choose themes that
Medium –
directional
signs available
currently
Medium –
improves
quality of
visitor
7
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
reinforce local distinctiveness e.g. geology, wildlife, and include basic experience,
information e.g., walks from the beach, local services, points of
enhances
interest. Plot panel locations to take into account signing and arrival
sense of place
points to deliver continuous provision. Tell stories in an engaging
way that has appeal to priority markets and encourages further
exploration.
COSTS
Cost
Visitor Signing
<£2,500 per destination
Visitor Information
No direct new costs.
Comment
This cost assumes c 3 road signs per destination either on route or
within the town. These would include brown signs, directions to
parking etc as appropriate. The costs are based on unit cost quotes
for production, installation and maintenance of a welcome sign by
Norfolk County Council which is £1,000 per sign. Brown signs and
other directional signs would cost less per sign and in some
instances would replace an existing sign and so use existing posts
etc. There is a non-refundable application cost of £150 for
processing a brown sign application.
LAPs and North Norfolk Tourism Round Table are key partners to
help enable this. It would be valuable for these groups to look at
benefits of pooling leaflet distribution in the first instance to make
savings and to look at leaflet stocks to identify which leaflets are
most likely to come up for reprint next, whether there is value in
proceeding with a reprint and if so how content might be aligned to
match with priority markets and reflect new key messages and ‘look
8
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
and feel’.
This activity is linked to commissioning a copywriter to develop the
‘Shared Story ™’ and key messages to produce sample copy for
different sectors and different media (destination and other print,
web, e-shots, e-newsletters). This material will influence future new
print design and approach. (see Marketing Action Plan)
£1,000 per podcast – to include research,
professional narrative and production (assumes one
day of recording + one day of technical production)
Interpretation
c.£5,000 - £7,000 – interpretation specialists to
research and write up themes and stories, advise on
locations, materials, commission production of
panels and oversee installation etc. +£2,500 per
interpretation board.
Using a locally based professional guide experienced in podcasts will
help contain costs.
Need to commission specialist interpreters that deal from concept
through to installation to ensure continuity to all stages of the project.
Observation: The unit costs of signs and interpretation panels and the development work around these are relatively high. It is likely that
one destination would require a minimum of three signs and two interpretation panels with a total cost of c £7,000 excluding the costs of
interpretation research and management. If budget is unavailable to deliver signing and interpretation across all locations as a single project,
we suggest it is phased on a destination basis with each destination receiving signing and interpretation at the same timer.
9
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
3 THE ACCOMMODATION OFFER
The range and style of visitor accommodation makes a statement about a destination. Choosing accommodation is an essential part of the
visitor decision making process for East Norfolk’s priority market segments. It is a part of the holiday experience. Visitors want
accommodation that is as at least as good as what they have at home and preferably different and special in some way. Holiday
accommodation needs to meet all their practical needs too.
In the Pathfinder area, some accommodation businesses are over reliant on regular repeat visitors and many static vans are owner-occupier.
So there is little immediate incentive for businesses to invest in new products and facilities. Coastal erosion means this part of Norfolk may
appear less appealing as a place to invest in visitor accommodation both by existing businesses and by companies looking for new locations.
That means the area does not benefit from new accommodation product. New product is often an important source of fresh ideas and acts
as a spur for established businesses to review their market positioning and facilities. Collectively these factors have resulted in a proportion
of the accommodation offer looking tired and out-of-date. Over time this will begin to impact on competitiveness and reduce the
effectivveness of marketing and promotion. So it is important to encourage accommodation businesses to look at investment now that can
help drive more business and improve yield and to provide opportunities and incentives to do so.
APPROACH
 The Tourism Marketing Toolkit includes a workbook that encourages businesses to review their facilities against the needs of priority
market segments – this provides a first step to identifying gaps and planning improvements.
 Pathfinder business advisors deliver tourism businesses with further customised advice and help them to develop business plans to
evolve and upgrade their offer
 North Norfolk District Council explores ways to target existing funds and seeks new funding sources to help enable tourism
accommodation business improvement
10
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
ACTION PLAN
Action
Business Support
Tourism Marketing Toolkit includes workbook on
Know your markets (see Tourism Marketing Plan)
Comment
Priority
The workbook helps businesses make connections between priority
markets, marketing and promotion activity and investment in facilities
and services. Acts as lead-in to business advice.
Business advice on accommodation investment
An important opportunity for businesses relocating as a result of
coastal erosion to revisit their market positioning and review future
facility needs including investment in new camping products e.g.
glamping
High – part of
changing
perspectives
and capacity
building
High –
immediate
opportunity for
relocating
businesses
and ongoing
Business advisors need to be experienced in the visitor
accommodation sector and understand current trends. Potential
need to develop an advisor resource on trends in new visitor
accommodation products and facilities.
Business Investment Fund
Maximise opportunities from existing sources
Look at opportunities to provide business support funding for
tourism accommodation businesses through LEADER and
Pathfinder funding directed towards sustainability measures (e.g.
closer links with local producers for revenue funded initiatives) and
for new product development (e.g. glamping, providing drying and
storage facilities for water/beach sports equipment)
High – need to
identify scale
and nature of
opportunity
Decide what type of grants/loans can be offered and how. Promote
opportunities through Pathfinder newsletter, business advisors,
Tourism Round Table, LAPs and other tourism business
11
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
communication channels.
The needs of this output will be met through the Pathfinder Business
Support Grant Scheme. The scheme offers marketing grants of up
to £1,000 for marketing activities, £5,000 for professional advice or
small infrastructure improvements e.g. landscaping. This grant is a
available to all business sectors but its criteria and areas of support
are well-suited to help tourism accommodation businesses realise
potential.
Develop business grants and loan schemes
Identify a source of funding to create a new and dedicated tourism
business improvement grant or business loan scheme targeting
accommodation businesses. Develop case and apply for funding.
Ensure scheme focuses on upgrades and investment that can
demonstrate contribution to sense of place and product evolution
that is aligned to priority markets. Tourism Business Connect in
Cumbria and Cheshire are examples of how this has been achieved
elsewhere. http://www.cumbriatourism.org/business-support/ruralnw-tourism-connect.aspx and
http://www.visitchesterandcheshire.co.uk/Rural-Tourism/TourismConnect
High – pump
priming
important to
help facilitate
investment
North Norfolk District Council is launching a revolving loan fund
(RLF) in April 2011. This is a gap financing measure to be primarily
used for development and expansion of small businesses in the area
which otherwise cannot access borrowing.
It will be a self-replenishing pool of money, utilising interest and
principal payments on old loans to issue new ones. It will offer loans
between £1,000 and £35,000, loan repayment periods between six
12
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
months and five years and a fixed rate of interest, at a below market
rate.
COSTS
The costs of the Tourism Marketing Toolkit are covered within the MAP. The costs of producing the written material for that toolkit are already
covered within our existing contract. The grant scheme and revolving fund scheme set up by North Norfolk District Council for the Pathfinder
area covers the costs for the other elements.
13
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
4 FOOD AND DRINK
Visitors want a distinctive and special experience and food is an integral part of that. Norfolk boasts excellent local food and drink and much
of that local food is associated with the seaside - crab, brown shrimps, eels and ice-cream. Norfolk is also home to specialist micro-breweries,
working flour mills and some iconic food brands such as Coleman’s mustard and Kettle Chips. There is an excellent supply of entrepreneurial
local producers, creating opportunities to exploit the existing supply chain. The county also has excellent food ambassadors in Delia Smith
and Galton Blackiston (chef at Morston Hall in Holt) who champion Norfolk’s local produce at a regional and national level.
However Norfolk as a whole and the Pathfinder area in particular does not celebrate local food or offer a distinctive eating out experience.
This is a missed opportunity. While several businesses say they source locally, there is little evidence of celebrating local food on the menus.
APPROACH
 Improve what the area already has by developing a food cluster that brings together chefs, suppliers, places to eat and hotels to work
creatively together to develop and profile local food as a part of the visitor experience
 Develop B2B activity including meet the buyer events that put food producers and tourism businesses in touch with each other
 Explore opportunities to attract new food talent into the area.
14
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
ACTION PLAN
Action
Food Tourism Cluster
Develop a local food tourism cluster group
Comment
Priority
The aim is to improve awareness of local food among Pathfinder
businesses, encourage the transfer of knowledge, collaborative
marketing activity and the increase in the supply, availability and
promotion of local food in tourism businesses.
High – an
important
framework and
springboard
Bring together chefs, suppliers, places to eat, visitor attraction cafes
and hotels. Involve Tastes of Anglia. Develop a digital resource to
keep members up to date on activity and exchange information.
Deliver themed meetings e.g. menu development profiling local food,
inspiration and best practice from local food heroes, talks from
producers etc. Organise know your local food heritage events for
tourism businesses including visits to producers and tasting
sessions.
Meet the Buyers
A series of events to increase the level of local
sourcing in tourism businesses
New Business Recruitment
Target and recruit new high profile restaurateurs and
local food retailers into the area.
The events are a coordinated series of one-to-one meetings between Medium
tourism businesses and local food suppliers and/or distributors.
Delivered like ‘speed-dating’ tourism businesses see up to c.10 local
food suppliers in one location in one day. Work with Tastes of Anglia
to deliver.
Need to be confident of size of customer base so would benefit from
further research. Use direct PR approaches for specific commercial
opportunities. See Malton, North Yorkshire as an example.
http://www.welovemalton.co.uk/chefchallenge/
Low
15
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
COSTS
Cost
Food Tourism Cluster
Suggest c. £1,500 to help enable the group to get
established and organised relatively quickly.
Comment
Group needs small annual working budget to cover development of
digital resource, speaker/venue costs for themed meetings. Some
costs might be covered by in-kind support e.g. provision of venue.
There may be opportunities for the group to attract a low
membership fee to help fund activities.
Meet the Buyers
Direct costs c. £300 max for appropriate venue plus
light refreshments available throughout day.
Assumes this is part of core activity for Tastes of Anglia who will
supply their professional support to producers free of charge to help
enable these sessions.
May need experienced coordinator to make events
happen and liaise with Tastes of Anglia, source/
invite and business matching. This requires c.
£1,000 - £1,500 per event depending whether some
costs could be met in-house by North Norfolk
Council, North Norfolk Tourism Round Table.
Max total per event = £1,800
New Business Recruitment
Variable depends on approach and reliant on
specific opportunity.
Respond to opportunities and/or link to inward investment activity
16
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
5 EVENTS AND FESTIVALS
Events and festivals animate places, provide a reason to visit now, help profile a destination and contribute to creating and reinforcing sense
of place.
The main events with visitor appeal are just outside the Pathfinder area; the Cromer Folk Festival (Folk on the Pier) in May and the Cromer
Carnival a seaside variety event that takes place in the peak season. There are a number of classical music events, e.g. at Ludham and
Trunch. These are aimed primarily at residents and as such add to the visitor experience but are not a draw for visitors.
The first Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival (COAST) celebrated the creative community in North Norfolk was held the last week in
October 2010 and had a strong presence in the Pathfinder area. The festival included venues from Salthouse to Overstrand. It included a
mixture of music, drama, literature, art and craft including opportunities to watch designer-makers in-situ. This is potentially a new opportunity
for the area to profile the arts and attract new and additional out-of-season visitors.
The Happing Festival is a well-established feature in the event calendar but a lack of larger venues limits growth potential.
We consider events and festivals offer opportunity for the Pathfinder area either by further developing the COAST festival or developing an
additional festival. The Happing Festival could strengthen its visitor appeal by giving it a stronger geographical, content and season if the
event organisers consider this to be a priority for them.
APPROACH
 To review the success and lessons learned of the Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival and explore how the event could be further
developed and the resources (organisational and funding) required to achieve that
 To develop collaboration and support capacity building within the events and festivals sector particularly around place clusters (e.g.
Cromer) and thematic clusters (classical music)
17
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
 To strengthen the promotion and PR of existing smaller events that have a strong fit with the priority market segments as part of the
marketing communications of the Pathfinder area.
ACTION PLAN
Action
Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival
Review success of Festival and identify how it could
be supported to develop and grow
Develop and market up to 3 pilot events in the
Pathfinder area as part of the festival in 2010
Capacity Building and Collaboration
Bring together events organisers to explore
collaborative opportunities and skills development
requirements
Comment
Priority
This festival could be a catalyst for development of a strong festivals
offer for the Pathfinder area and attracting new markets (we have
identified a segment called City Escapes as a potential new
segment). This event could be an important first step to introduce
this market to the Pathfinder area. Initial review of 2010 event
suggests a need for a tighter thematic focus and needs a Marketing
Plan and a visitor orientated PR to raise national profile
Currently the festival focuses on activity on the edge of the
Pathfinder area. The events will need to be special in some way so
that they can be presented as ‘highlights’ and encourage visitors out
to them. The Belfry Arts Centre at Overstrand could be one potential
venue.
High
Could mean ongoing resource implication to facilitate collaboration
and to provide specific skills and training support. The likely areas
which would need support are business planning, programming,
marketing, ticketing and back-office functions.
Medium
Events organisers could make use of the Toolkit and be invited to
Toolkit workshops. This would have added benefit of bringing
together tourism and events sectors to encourage mutual
understanding and potential collaboration.
18
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
Strengthen promotion and PR
Increase profile for appropriate existing events
through destination marketing
JANUARY 2011
This will require a destination marketing body to work with organisers
to assess the opportunity presented by existing events and position
and promote them as part of destination offer.
High
COSTS
Cost
Cromer and Sheringham Arts Festival
£3,000 per pilot event to pump prime costs of
artists/orchestras etc (costs for this may vary from
£600-£5,000 per event) and venues
Tourism PR support – c. £3,000
Capacity Building and Collaboration
No additional costs.
Strengthen promotion and PR
c.£7,000 per annum
Comment
Important for the pilot events in Pathfinder area to meet the profile
needed to attract visitors and to be able to demonstrate Festival
‘highlight’ status.
To develop PR plan and identify how to achieve higher/national PR
profile to drive more visitors to the Festival and to the highlight
events in the Pathfinder area in particular. The Marketing Plan can
be developed with help from business advisors.
Business planning, programming and marketing advice can be
provided through business advice team.
Incorporate budget within core marketing funding for destination
marketing organisation. Focus initially on PR and e-marketing for
cost effectiveness.
19
BLUE SAIL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES PAPER – EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
Disclaimer: All information and analysis supplied by Blue Sail Consulting Ltd and our sub-contractors is delivered in good faith and represents our professional judgement
based on the information obtained from the client and elsewhere. The achievement of recommendations, forecasts and valuations depend on factors beyond our control. Any
projections, financial or otherwise, in this report are only intended to illustrate particular points of argument and do not constitute forecasts of actual performance
20