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EAST NORFOLK TOURISM MARKETING PROJECT
AUDIT PAPER
REPORT FOR NORTH NORFOLK DISTRICT COUNCIL
AUGUST 2010
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CONTENTS
1
ABOUT THIS PAPER ........................................................................ 3
2
KEY OBSERVATIONS ...................................................................... 4
3
PRODUCT AUDIT ............................................................................. 7
4
MARKET SEGMENTS ..................................................................... 18
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1 ABOUT THIS PAPER
This paper brings together our first stage tasks. It is a snapshot in time of work to date. We set out:
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Key observations
Tourism SWOT for the Pathfinder area
Product audit
Priority market segments.
We are facilitating three tourism business workshops in early September and the input and feedback from these will provide additional
perspectives. We will use this collective body of information to build the tourism marketing plan, develop recommendations on promotional
actions and develop the toolkit. These tasks comprise the next stages of our work.
This project is for the Pathfinder area of North Norfolk that stretches from Overstrand to Horsey and inland to cover North Walsham and
Stalham.
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2 KEY OBSERVATIONS
 The beaches and the quality of the coast – long stretches of safe sandy beaches – are the main appeal of the area but are currently
underplayed
 This is an area that is about traditional beach holidays, slowing down the pace of life, memories of childhood holidays – beach holidays as
they used to be. This distinctive offer complements that of North Norfolk and of Norfolk as a whole.
 The Pathfinder area is not a cohesive visitor destination. It can be broadly divided into a northern coastal strip that has a strong two way
relationship with Cromer and the southern area that has a strong relationship with the Broads.
 Strengthening the relationship between the coastal strip and its rural hinterland is also crucial to deliver its tourism potential and to present
a stronger proposition to target audiences. It taps into a growing trend for countryside short breaks in Norfolk
 There is a large number of bedspaces – predominantly non-serviced – so this an ideal place to stay and explore
 There are good facilities for families but much more could be done to profile this area as a great and safe place to have a family holiday
 However, there are limited opportunities for visitors to spend in the Pathfinder area, which has few visitor attractions and limited shopping.
There are no attractions or facilities likely to attract significant numbers of day visitors into the Pathfinder area that are on holiday
elsewhere in Norfolk. That limits economic growth potential
 The tourism season is short. Extending the season is important to grow capacity and maximise business growth potential, so we need to
look at new ways of attracting active older markets that have more flexibility about when they take short breaks.
 The area has a very traditional accommodation offer, dominated by static caravan parks. Accommodation businesses are reliant on
regular repeat visitors – longer term there is a need to update the accommodation experience to meet changing visitor expectations and
attract new visitors while ensuring it continues to deliver for existing markets. The relocation of some coastal caravan sites could provide
opportunities to do this.
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 The eating out offer is limited – very few restaurants and cafes celebrate or champion local food – this is a significant and missed
opportunity
 There are some slow-burn tourism infrastructure issues to address – brown signs, interpretation, visitor information and some longer term
ones too in particular beach infrastructure
 The Local Area Partnerships (LAPs) are potentially valuable delivery organisations for tourism marketing activity and business
networking.
TOURISM SWOT
Strengths
 Extent of safe sandy beaches
 Some attractive small villages and quiet lanes
 Traditional holiday experience, slow pace of life
 Volume of bedspaces
 Loyal repeat visitors
 Adjacent to the Broads, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and to the
tourism destinations of Cromer and Sheringham
 LAPs – delivery partnerships in place
 Some quality specialist interest products – historic churches, bird
watching, fishing
Weaknesses
 Lacks differentiation generally from other parts of Norfolk
 Lacks critical mass of attractors to support differentiation or
support reasons to visit
 Over reliance on regular repeat visitors
 Seasonality
 Small number of visitor attractions – none are main attractors for
visitors staying elsewhere in Norfolk
 A weak leisure retail offer
 Limited – and often not very good quality - food and drink
experience
 Poor tourism infrastructure – especially tourism signing
 LAPs tourism activity is in isolation of each other and North
Norfolk activity
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Opportunities
 Profile the area as a family beach holiday destination –
combining childhood holiday memories, safe environment and
quality time together
 Expand the season by targeting active mature markets that have
more flexibility on when they take short breaks
 Profile the area as a good place to stay and explore
 Longer term build on the potential to use events and festivals to
extend the season and grow target markets
 Make more of the local food offer – take a lead in Norfolk
 Use marketing tools creatively to win hearts and sell experience
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Threats
 Other parts of Norfolk get ahead with creative marketing and
product development and the Pathfinder area gets left behind
 Negative PR about coastal erosion – depresses business
optimism and negatively influences visitor perceptions
 Lack of dynamism and entrepreneurialism among businesses
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3 PRODUCT AUDIT
We undertook the audit to help us build up a picture of the visitor experience, get an understanding of capacity and geographical spread of
the product and to experience the area as a visitor does. The audit is not intended to be exhaustive. We have developed it as a tool to
inform our work developing the Marketing Plan.
PLACE
The Pathfinder area is the strip from Overstrand to Horsey. It is dominated by the coast and the influence of the sea, but with a fair sized
chunk of the Broads around Hickling, Stalham and Horsey. The area is outside of the North Norfolk Heritage Coast. Part of the area is within
the North Norfolk AONB but away from the main focus of the AONB.
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. It has a quiet rural hinterland with some attractive small villages. However the area is relatively isolated does not benefit from
passing trade and so is highly reliant on local custom and seasonal visitors. This has an impact on services and in particular there is a
relatively limited shopping and eating out offer.
Connectivity
The main arterial roads between Cromer and the south of the county (A140 and A149) either avoid the area altogether (A140) or skirt around
it (A149 goes through North Walsham). The single road that passes through the coastal area is poorly signed, offers limited views of the
coast and dissects the Bacton Gas Works. However there is a superb network of quiet lanes linking villages. The driving conditions are very
pleasant.
The Bittern Line Railway, which is popular with visitors, links Cromer to Norwich via North Walsham but there is no way of accessing the
coast from the either Cromer or North Walsham stations using other public transport. There are good bus services linking the main
settlements across the area – all run by one company and well publicised. The „Coast Hopper‟ bus was controversially discontinued east of
Cromer, but continues to operate a popular service west of the town. There is a Sustrans Regional Cycle Route (30) which does travel along
the coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth.
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PRODUCT
We have reviewed four categories of tourism product:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Visitor accommodation
Attractions and events
Food and drink
Visitor shopping
Visitor Accommodation
We have combined the relevant entries in the North Norfolk District Council database with additional web searches to provide an estimate of
the volume and type of visitor accommodation. We capture this data in the table below. However, it is very difficult to get a full picture of the
number of bedspaces, pitches and units. Different types of accommodation can be mixed on single sites and many of the chalets and static
caravans are owned and therefore not advertised for rent. The North Norfolk Tourism Sector Study by Scott Wilson (2005) suggested that
the volume of accommodation stock is underestimated by a fifth across North Norfolk.
Accommodation Pathfinder
Type
Area*
Poppyland
B+B
Guest House
Hotel
Self Catering
Holiday Park
Touring Park
Total Beds
Total Pitches/Units
Total Businesses
2
2
4
17
4
2
236
350
Pathfinder
Fringe**
Griffon
25
2
11
30
10
5
615
795
Stalham
20
2
2
20
3
270
199
Total
Beds/Pitches
Total
Businesses
47
6
17
67
17
7
1,121
1,344
* - Data for Pathfinder area only – Overstrand to Horsey and immediate rural hinterland
Poppyland
29
10
11
37
7
6
750
582
Griffon
Stalham
1
5
38
-
5
7
59
-
161
** - Are in LAP but on fringes of Pathfinder area
Total
Beds/Pitches
Total
Businesses
34
11
11
49
7
6
847
582
118
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The Pathfinder area has a very traditional accommodation offer dominated by static caravans and chalets located on large holiday parks
along the seafront. Many of the parks provide onsite facilities including indoor pool, play areas, activities and entertainment and a few are
open to non-residents. Most have small shops. The quality is fairly high for this sector. All the parks are situated in locations with high
amenity value close to the beach or in pleasant countryside but the sites fall down in visual appeal, particularly cliff line sites. Without
substantial landscaping it is almost impossible to make lines of static caravans look good however they are deployed. Touring sites are
mainly small or medium sized with good facilities but there is no evidence of evolution into new products like glamping.
There are several 3 and 4 star hotels (e.g. Sea Marge, Beechwood,) that offer a traditional experience. Several are investing in their facilities.
There are no boutique-style hotels. The B&B offer is of a relatively high quality, especially in rural areas as is the self catering that comprises
good quality cottage style properties and rural barn complexes. A number of agencies are active in the area, the largest being Norfolk
Country Cottages with some good smaller, more local agencies with decent portfolios. Accommodation is spread across the Pathfinder area.
North Norfolk Pathfinder – Accommodation
Promotion
Virtually all the businesses have websites. 33 of the 161 businesses identified in
the Pathfinder area` advertise in the North Norfolk District Council Guide (NNDC)..
A larger number in the self catering sector opt for agency marketing, notably
Norfolk Country Cottages and English Country Cottages. The holiday parks rely on
their owners to fill units and have a large number of returners. They also advertise
on the main caravan consolidation sites. Businesses tend to use the same type of
language; “quiet”, “friendly”, “family owned”, “coastal” or “woodland” settings.
Occupancy levels are seasonal with high occupancy levels in the school holidays.
Price
The price range for accommodation primarily falls within the medium to lower
bands. Lodges and vans charge £400 and £600 p.w. There is a small number of
premium price self catering properties. Hotels room rates range from £50-£75 pp
per night. One or two properties ask for higher prices in the peak season. B&B‟s
are good value averaging around £40- 50 pp per night.
For interactive map see http://www.batchgeo.com/map/nnaccommodation
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Attractions and Events
There are a small number of attractions located across the Pathfinder area and very few all weather attractions. Visitors to Norfolk will travel
across the county for high profile attractions such as Bewilderwood and Sandringham. The big attractions likely to draw visitors in their own
right in North Norfolk are outside the Pathfinder area at Holkham, Walsingham, Pensthorpe (home of Springwatch), and the Poppy Line
railway.
Beaches
In many ways the sea is the star of this area – the whole place is imbued with the character of the coast – big skies, strong light – and many
of the attractions reflect that. The beaches are superb – extensive and uncrowded apart from the resorts and resort villages and even there
because of the size of the beaches there is room to move and play. There are issues where there is a need to clean up old sea defences to
improve the amenity value but overall the beaches offer very safe, very sandy bathing for children. There are also some issues about safety
if swimmers ignore safety flags and get caught up in strong tidal rips and currents.
The beaches are Blue Flag accredited at Cromer and Sea Palling and three beaches at Mundesley, Sea Palling and Cromer are patrolled by
RNLI Lifeguards in the high season increasing perceptions of safety. Sea Palling is also a Marine Conservation Society accredited – a very
prestigious status. Sea Palling in the very south of the area is a watersports area and seems to attract a younger set as well as families and
older couples. However detail about the beaches and signing to them is hard to find.
There is a concentration of boating attractions (hire/trips) in the southern area around the Broads at Stalham, Hickling and Potter Heigham.
There is water sports equipment hire and training centre at Sea Palling and just outside the Pathfinder area at Cromer, there is a surf school.
Heritage attractions
The high profile heritage attractions are the two National Trust properties at Blickling and Felbrigg, on the edges of the Pathfinder area.
There is a concentration of historic churches, the spires visible across the countryside. These are promoted by the LAPs and Open
Churches. They provide a destination for a walk or the focus of a half day trip.
There is also a small number of local and special interest museums including the motorcycle museum at North Walsham, Toad Hall Cottage,
and the RAF Air Defence Museum. There is a garden attraction at East Ruston with the gardens at Hoveton Hall and Mannington Hall on the
outer limits of the Pathfinder area. There are working windmills at Paston near Mundesley and Sutton and a wind pump at Horsey. A fuller list
is shown on the map.
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North Norfolk Pathfinder – Attractions
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For interactive map see http://www.batchgeo.com/map/nnattractions
Other
There is a concentration of family attractions in easy travelling distance from
the area including Amazona Zoo, the Shire Horse Centre, Bewilderwood and
Play Barns and adventure activities for children.
There is a small and scattered craft offer.
Most of the wildlife action is in the Broads area with the exception of
Southrepps Common, a locally run reserve with walks. There is migrating
bird watching opportunities in the south of the area.
Walking and Cycling
There are two long distance footpaths; Paston Way and Weavers Way.
There is a good range of circular routes close to Cromer, Aylesham and
North Walsham. However these are promoted by a variety of different
agencies; there is no sense of the total offer. The informal ROW network
appears very patchy and disconnected.
There is one long distance cycling route – Cromer/Great Yarmouth – that
passes through the area and a small number of circular/shorter routes. This
is not a strong offer. The network of quiet lanes behind the coast provide
great opportunities for flat, undemanding cycling – ideal for families. There
are four bicycle hire shops on the edge of the Pathfinder area.
Events
The main events with visitor appeal are just outside the Pathfinder area too;
the Cromer Folk Festival in April and the Cromer Carnival a seaside variety
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event that takes place in the peak season. The new Coast Festival in October will focus on the arts. This is potentially a new opportunity.
There are a number of classical music events, e.g. at Southrepps, Happing. These are aimed primarily at residents but add to the visitor
experience.
Food and Drink
We have so far identified 90 businesses serving food in the Pathfinder area; with a good mix of pubs, cafes, restaurants and takeaways but
as the map below shows the concentration of restaurants is in North Walsham and Stalham with very few in other coastal towns. The quality
of the foodservice offer is generally quite low, servicing a residential and existing visitor market. There are no destination restaurants or cafes
that would attract visitors to travel to the area from neighbouring locations.
Type
Pub
Cafe
Restaurant
Take Away
Total
The Hill House Pub, Happisburgh
No.
28
22
22
18
90
The general quality of foodservice product is not distinctive and mostly priced at the value
end of the market. However we have found some examples of good proactive businesses.
The Hill House Pub in Happisburgh runs an annual beer festival featuring more than 70 real
ales and attracting good numbers of visitors. The Manor Hotel in Mundsely has just been
refurbished and is proactively promoting its quality food offer. The Cliff Top Cafe in
Overstrand is an attractive seaside cafe with a spectacular outlook and a genuine holiday
feel.
Cliff Cliff Top Cafe, Overstrand
The Manor Hotel, Mundesley
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North Norfolk Pathfinder – Places to Eat
Looking further inland, we found only one restaurant promoting local
produce on its menu; the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham. The
Beechwood was awarded the VisitBritain Small Hotel of the Year in
2003 and is celebrated for its use of locally sourced food, though on
the day we visited there was little evidence of local food on the
sample menu.
Visitors want a distinctive and special experience and food is an
integral part of that. Norfolk boasts some of the best local food and
drink in the country. Much of that local food is associated with the
seaside - crab, brown shrimps, eels and ice-cream - as well as
cheese and apples. Norfolk is also home to a good number of
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, so the supply
chain is there.
The county also has wonderful 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.
For interactive map see http://www.batchgeo.com/map/nnfoodanddrink).
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Tastes of Anglia - Norfolk Producer Members
Tastes of Anglia is a membership organisation for local food
and drink businesses in the East of England and has 46
Norfolk-based producer members. This not-for-profit
organisation offers members one to-one support to increase
levels of local sourcing, workshops on local food related
subjects and tailored meet-the-buyer trade events.
This presents the food businesses of Norfolk with a significant
marketing opportunity that is not yet being taken up by
businesses in the Pathfinder area. A lack of passing trade
means that cafes and restaurants have a relatively small
customer base; so becoming a destination cafe that attracts
visitors in its own right is one route to growing market share.
Price
Current pricing is focused very much towards the value end of
the market. This will potentially have a devaluing effect on any
new higher quality foodservice businesses that want to enter
the area as they will immediately be perceived as expensive.
For interactive map see http://www.batchgeo.com/map/nnfoodproducers
Promotion
There is very little collective promotion of foodservice establishments in the Pathfinder area. We can find few printed materials that promote
places to eat and drink and there are few brown signs for places to eat. As a visitor you could easily pass through a coastal village and not
know there was anywhere to eat and drink.
The best example of collective promotion of food and drink is the „Good Food Trail‟ produced by the Griffon LAP. The attractive leaflet lists 18
different places to eat or buy local food and drink; most of these establishments are located within the designated area (or just outside of it).
There is a need to dramatically improve the food offer before it can lead in promotional activity.
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Visitor Shopping
We define visitor shopping as retail businesses that are either directly aimed at visitors or will add-value to the visitor experience including:
 Gift and craft shops
 Specialist food shops
 Shops servicing leisure and recreational markets e.g. beach accessories or jet ski hire
North Norfolk District Council tourism database is light on shopping establishments, so we have done some further research into the shopping
offer to help populate this database but more work still needs to be done and a more comprehensive database built up over time. The
Pathfinder area has a small number of attractive shops that have visitor appeal. In total we identified 22 establishments. The majority are
craft and gift shops (this includes the village general store selling seaside accessories).
Each coastal village tends to have a general store selling seaside accessories and souvenirs. These outlets appear old-fashioned and a little
tired. Mundesley has a number of more contemporary and attractive gift and food shops that are far more in keeping with what today‟s visitor
is looking for. There is an attractive shop at the Stow Mill visitor attraction just outside Mundesley in Paston.
Type
No.
Looking beyond Mundesley we struggled to find any other attractive shops that would have strong appeal to
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visitors. North Walsham is very much a working market town, servicing a local population.
Local Food
Sports
Total
7
2
23
Beach Rock Leisure in Sea Palling offers Jet Ski sales and hire; it is the only example of a shop servicing
the recreational needs of visitors. Overall the coastal shopping experience is in dramatic contrast to villages
north of Cromer (Sheringham, Holt and Wells next the Sea) which have distinctive and interesting shopping
with strong visitor appeal. This is particularly the case for shops selling arts, crafts and gifts. North Norfolk
has 74 art galleries and studios dotted around the district. This is a significant number and points to a strong arts community. Unfortunately
only 14 of these are in the Pathfinder area (19% of the district‟s total).
Except for Mundesley, the villages along the coast do not lend themselves to „casual browsing‟. Any small retail business looking to open in
North Norfolk will be naturally drawn to the more popular shopping areas, where they are likely to maximise their revenue potential.
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Promotion
North Norfolk Pathfinder – Visitor Shopping
The council‟s www.visitnorthnorfolk.com website lists 18 shops for North
Norfolk but none are in the Pathfinder area. The www.tournorfolk.co.uk
website highlights the visitor assets of each village. This includes a number
of listings for village shops. The best example of online promotion for retail
is the Wells next the Sea website which has a well populated and attractive
listing of retail outlets in the village. See http://www.wellsguide.co.uk/shopping.htm. Looking beyond the web, a number of individual
outlets produce their own printed materials but none are businesses in the
Pathfinder area.
For interactive map see http://www.batchgeo.com/map/nnretail
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Seaside Shop, Sea Palling
Art Gallery, Mundesley
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General Store and Seaside Shop, Overstrand
Stow Mill Gift Shop, Paston
Seaside Shop, Mundesley
Busy shopping street, Wells next the Sea
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4 MARKET SEGMENTS
We have identified four segments which we believe are the best prospects for the area. This selection is based on our product audit of the
Pathfinder area, market analysis of current visitors to North Norfolk specifically and Norfolk generally, and our knowledge of visitor markets.
We are suggesting targeting segments which will deliver most economic value and where there is a good product fit. So we are proposing
stretching East Norfolk‟s current market to include a more up-market, active, older segment and more upmarket family segments. This does
not mean that existing markets are not valuable or will not come – simply that promotional effort should be focused on growing those market
segments that will bring most benefit.
The proposed segments are descriptive rather than based on a commercial segmentation system. We think these will be more useful and
practicable for those promoting the area and the businesses operating within it, than commercial systems which are costly to access.
Norfolk Tourism‟s new marketing plan uses the ArkLeisure system (developed by VisitBritain this value-based approach segments the UK
population into eight groups according to their attitudes to holiday taking). In describing our proposed segments we indicate the most relevant
ArkLeisure segments to help tie in with Norfolk Tourism.
Our proposed segments are:
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Mini-Explorer Families
Budding Explorer Families
Experienced Explorers
Relaxing Greys
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Segment
Description
Looking for
Key Messages
Mini-Explorer
Families
 Children aged under 5
 ABC1C2
 Single families or groups of
families
 Sometimes with
grandparents or extended
families
 From East England, East
and West Midlands




Budding Explorer
Families
 Children aged 5-12
 ABC1C2
 Single families or groups of
families
 Sometimes with
grandparents or extended
families
 From within 3 hours travel
time
 From East England, East
and West Midlands

 Safe places to stay where children can
play outside
 Good value – places to stay and eat
 Sunny weather, beaches, sand, safe
paddling
 Places to go outside school holidays
which still cater for children
 Special deals and offer
 Self-catering
 Wet weather alternatives – eg
swimming pool, indoor play
 Safe places to stay where children can
roam outside
 Good value – places to stay and eat
 Sunny weather, beaches, sand,
paddling and swimming
 Safe cycling
 Special deals and offer
 Self-catering
 Some nearby wet weather alternatives
for children
 A big attraction as a treat (eg
Bewilderwood, boat trip)
Experienced
Explorers




 Interesting and good quality places to
stay – serviced & self-catering
accommodation
 Good food
 Peaceful and tranquil Discoverers
 Unspoiled and
Functionals
uncommercialised
Traditionals
 How holidays used to
Age 60-75
ABC1
Fit, healthy and active
Confident and independent
Play and fun
Children welcome
Good value
How holidays used to
be
 Spending time
together
 Simple pleasures
 Good weather
ArkLeisure
Fit
Discoverers
Functionals
 Healthy, safe and
Discoverers
active
Functionals
 Freedom
 Children welcome
 Good value
 How holidays used to
be
 Creating memories
 Spending time
together
 Good weather
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



Relaxing Greys
Well-travelled
Interested and curious
Couples and friends
From East England, East
and West Midlands and
London
 Age 65-85
 ABC1C2
 Enjoy breaks and a change
of scene
 Couples and groups
 Healthy but less active
 From East England, East
and West Midlands







Good value
Walks and cycling
Learning hols – painting, photography
Bird & wildlife watching
Pretty villages
Interesting shops
Arts and culture
 Nice places to stay – serviced
accommodation
 Good value
 Good service
 Shops
 Cafes, tearooms and pubs
 Nice scenery
 Pretty villages
be
 England at its best
 Traditional values
 Peaceful and tranquil
 A lovely place to get
away
Traditionals
Functionals
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Disclaimer: All information and analysis supplied by Blue Sail Consulting Ltd and our sub-contractors is done 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
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