NFU responds to rural tourism in England inquiry

Walkers on a coastal path - July_6739

Our key messages include:

  • Farming and profitable farm businesses are essential for rural tourism.
  • Rural tourist marketing activity is shaped and informed by local farming activities, such as farmer’s markets and festivals; and characteristic local food.
  • Tourism can help people understand farming and food provenance. It can help them appreciate the countryside, country life and rural traditions.
  • Farms need to benefit more from rural tourism spending; farmers maintain the landscapes, footpaths and countryside people enjoy both within and outside tourist hotspots.
  • There is potential to increase tourism activities on some farms, but this needs infrastructure (broadband and Wi-Fi) and access to targeted funding and marketing support.
  • Local businesses need to be supported rather than taxed, with other funding such as tourism taxes investigated.
  • Year round tourism can be useful for supporting rural businesses and services, farm shops offer such services.
  • There is extensive footpath access to the countryside, with potential for better links to rural tourism opportunities and to ensure walkers can respect and enjoy the environment.
  • Planning rules need to be flexible and sufficiently positive to encourage year round tourism.
  • Government departments, in particular Defra need to promote farming and ensure farmers and growers have more of a say in plans for the countryside.

Tourism facts:

  • 340m day trips were made to English countryside areas in 2014 with a total spend of £8.4bn.
  • 25% of all day trips made in England were to the countryside.
  • 32.6m overnight holiday stays were spent in rural England in 2014, valued at £2.2bn.
  • 5% of farms host tourism accommodation or catering and 12% of farms sport and recreation activities.
  • There are some 4,000 farm shops in the UK with turnovers ranging from £1,000 to more than £6 million per annum.
  • Farmers care for around three-quarters of the British countryside and maintain, in in areas of open countryside, over 200,000km of public footpaths.
  • Source of information: Visit England, (Defra Farm Business Survey 2014-2015).National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association

The NFU has produced a Pocket guide to the Iconic British Hills and Uplands.

Farmstay.co.uk (www.farmstay.co.uk)  the only cooperative farming marketing brand/farm member based tourism marketing body.