Sustainable tourism is the focus of three major tourist organisations who have joined forces to up their game in the West Midlands, with concerns growing worldwide about the impact of tourists, and millions of visitors set to visit the region this year.
Destination Coventry, Shakespeare’s England and the West Midlands Growth Company are collaborating to assess and combat key factors impacting sustainability.
Backed by funding from the Global West Midlands programme, the organisations are working with the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Movement to develop a vision that places sustainable tourism at the heart of their strategy. The GDS Movement publishes the GDS-Index, a performance improvement programme to make tourism more sustainable.
The top seven ‘green’ destinations in the 2023 index included Norway, Denmark and Finland. Glasgow, which placed eighth, and Belfast, eleventh, have both invested in sustainable tourism programmes which have aimed to improve their sustainability credentials over several years.
Sustainable tourism: assessing the key factors
The three partners will initially assess factors including travel, infrastructure, food waste, recycling and inclusive tourism across Coventry, Birmingham, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Dudley.
Destination Coventry and Shakespeare’s England have also partnered to achieve Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) status for the Coventry and Warwickshire region. LVEP is the official delivery body recognised by Visit England.
Paul Michael, chair of Destination Coventry, said: “This collaboration is the best way we can help to drive significant improvements for sustainable tourism practices across Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands. We have a shared commitment to ensuring that the events and tourism industry brings positive environmental and societal benefits.”
Giving back, not taking away
“Our ambition is to eventually be a tourism economy that gives back, and doesn’t take away, and by partnering with GDS Movement we are starting the journey to that goal,” he continued.
Darren Tosh, Operations and Marketing Director at Shakespeare’s England, adds: “The environment and sustainability are becoming increasingly influential factors when consumers are pondering their next break – rightly so, as we all need to play our part in helping to protect the planet. As a region, south Warwickshire has recovered well from the pandemic and we are starting to see a rise in overseas visitors to complement our strong domestic visitor numbers. Demonstrating our green credentials in the future will help us to further stand out from the crowd beyond the fantastic history, heritage, and outdoor spaces the wider region has to offer.”
Meanwhile, Becky Frall, Head of Tourism at the West Midlands Growth Company adds: “We want to put the West Midlands on the map as home to some of the leading sustainable destinations in the UK. We know that the tourism sector is highly vulnerable to climate change, so it is of utmost importance to continue our path to net zero to ensure healthier societies and the regeneration of nature across our region.”
Lincolnshire takes a lead
According to UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), international tourism is well on track to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 after it ended 2023 at 88% of those levels, with an estimated 1.3 bn international arrivals. Preliminary international tourism receipts reached USD1.4 tn.
UNWTO predicts that “Tourists are expected to increasingly travel closer to home” and “sustainable practices will also play an increasing role in consumer choices.”
Visit Lincolnshire is ahead of the West Midlands in driving sustainable tourism, having launched a Green Tourism Toolkit for businesses. Tourism Manager Mary Powell explains: “This is just the beginning of the sustainable support that we are providing the visitor economy sector across Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland. We want to support businesses in becoming proactive about turning their business greener and practising sustainability, making better places for people to live and better places for people to visit.”
She continues: “ This is of increasing importance to our visitors, so there are good business reasons for starting this process. We want to be able to attract visitors responsibly and understand that, now more than ever, it is crucial to take care of our amazing places while still extending a warm Lincolnshire welcome.”
Big business for the West Midlands
Spending by visitors to the West Midlands in 2022 rose to £14.1bn, up by £4bn from 2021 and £1bn more than pre-Covid figures in 2019. Tourists spent most on the region’s retail, food and drink and recreational offer.
Warwickshire’s visitor economy has bounced back strongly from the pandemic with 15mn trips by visitors to the county in 2022 – 13.6mn day trips and 1.4mn overnight visits. The total value to the county’s economy was £1.27bn, a 48% increase on 2021 levels, though still 4% down on pre-pandemic levels.
Coventry enjoyed a record year in 2022 as 11.05 million visitors flocked to the city, contributing £750.86mn to the local economy and surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
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