South Downs Tourism Conference, Arundel Castle
Held in the wonderful setting of the Baron’s Hall at Arundel Castle, the first ever conference devoted to sustainable tourism development in the South Downs attracted 160 delegates, most of them providers of B&B and other forms of accommodation from throughout the Downs.
Chaired by Tim Renton, who also chairs the South Downs Joint Committee, the conference started with a welcome from the Duke of Norfolk and a scene-setting ‘virtual tour’ of the South Downs by Phil Belden, the SDJC’s Countryside Services Manager. Simon Woodward of Yorkshire based PLB consulting spoke about best practice in sustainable tourism elsewhere, followed by Manda Brookman of the Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project (CoaST), who gave an inspiring insight into what can be achieved given commitment and enthusiasm.
A series of 5-minute, quick-fire presentations covered South Downs Lamb, a Churches and Tourism project in Hampshire’s Meon Valley, the emerging South Downs Green Tourism Business Club, the National Trust’s approach to encouraging more sustainable forms of transport, and a review of the network’s activities.
South Downs Lamb featured again over lunch, this time as part of a menu which demonstrated wonderfully the quality of our local Sussex and Hampshire produce. Workshops then considered our approach to branding the South Downs and the future direction of the network itself.
Feedback from both workshops is now being used to guide the on-going work of the network steering group and co-ordinator. Copies of the conference presentations are available below.
