South West Coast Path; one of the world's greatest walks (Lonely Planet Guide)
Key tourism facts
Who uses the path?
Seven simple things you can do to improve the facilities you offer walkers
How to attract more Coast Path walkers
How to keep up to date with Coast Path news
Who looks after the Coast Path and how to report any problems
- The South West Coast Path is the jewel in the region’s crown, providing a continuous trail around the South West peninsula and giving access to some of the best coastal viewpoints in the country.
- The South West Coast Path is the UK’s most popular National Trail and is listed as one of the world’s greatest walks by Lonely Planet Best in travel 2009.
- It follows the coast for 630 miles (1014 km) from Minehead in Somerset to the shores of Poole Harbour in Dorset, making this the longest National Trail.
- It passes through 5 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), 17 heritage coasts, a National Park, 2 World Heritage Sites, a UNESCO Geopark in Torbay and Britain’s first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in north Devon.
- A total direct spend of £389 million was estimated to be attributed to Coast Path users in 2011, which supports 8985 full time equivalent jobs.
Who uses the path?
- The SW Coast Path gets an estimated 6.2 million visits a year, making it one of the region's biggest 'attractions'. This doesn't include non-tourism use by local residents, such as regular dog walkers.
- It's not just 'bobble hatted ramblers'. Research by Visit Cornwall (2011) found 41% of all visitors will go for a 2 miles or longer walk & 81% will do a shorter walk during their stay. This compares with 40% who will spend 1/2 a day or more on the beach.
- These walkers have a broad range of varying needs and interests. To cater for this the SW Coast Path website has over 500 themed walks (e.g. pubs, cafes, heritage, wildlife, seasonal) of varying lengths and difficulty. These are also included in the Activity Planner that you can easily add to your website.
- Many dog owners want to bring their pet on holiday, and so are more likely to holiday in the UK. By offering pet friendly accommodation you can set yourself apart from your competitors. We have worked with the Kennel Club to provide advice to keep dogs happy and safe on the Coast Path.
- A small proportion (but still a sizable number) of visitors are long distance walkers who are come just to walk the path. They will generally be looking to stay a single night, before moving on further along the path.
Seven simple things you can do to improve the facilities you offer walkers
- Include on your website information about how close you are to the South West Coast Path (to help maintain our brand, please ensure you refer to it as the 'South West Coast Path' or 'Coast Path', rather than 'Coastal path' or 'Cornish Coast Path'), and put the Activity Planner on your website.
- Have good information available about local walks for your guests to use. We have produced a range of short walk books (click for details), and for larger hotels, pubs and campsites we can produce bespoke leaflets and information panels about walks that start from your door. Find out more here.
- Have somewhere people can dry wet clothes and footwear (and tell them about this on your website)
- Print out and display the weather forecast
- Offer to provide packed lunches and fill flasks
- Provide information about local pubs and restaurants
- If you want to attract long distance walkers, accept one-night bookings, offer baggage transfer (this is most easily done by using Luggage Transfers who cover the whole path), and make sure you are listed in the SW Coast Path Association annual guidebook.
How to attract more Coast Path walkers
- Promote the great walking opportunities in your promotional material - particularly during the shoulder season.
- If you are working with journalists, the SWCP Team ([email protected]) can provide content (text and images) for media use, and can help with press trips.
- Work with other local tourism businesses to get your town or village accredited as a walkers are welcome destination. Obtaining Walkers are Welcome status, as a growing number of communities across Britain are doing, brings a number of benefits. It helps strengthen a town's reputation as a place for visitors to come to enjoy the outdoors, bringing useful benefits to the local economy. It also helps to ensure that footpaths and facilities for walkers are maintained in good condition, benefiting local people as well as visitors. Find out more at the Walkers are Welcome Network website.
- Get involved in organising or sponsoring a local Walking Festival.
- Advertise on the SW Coast Path website (500,000 visits a year), which has advertising and sponsorship opportunities on almost every page, with the short walk pages being particularly good for pubs and cafes close to the path. Find out more here.
- If you are an accommodation provider close to the path and accept single night stays, ensure you are listed in the SW Coast Path Associations annual guidebook to the path and listed on the Coast Path Accommodation listing website they maintain in partnership with Luggage Transfers. Details of this can be found here.
- If you have a special offers or promotions, or can offer a competition prize, let the SW Coast Path Team ([email protected]) know, and we may promote it in our consumer e-newsletter and through our social media.
- Sponsor local improvement projects - either directly, or using money raised from your guests. When a business sponsor projects we ensure they are credited in PR linked to the project, and it’s a great way of demonstrating to your customers that you are helping care for the path. With decreasing budgets, the teams who look after the path are finding it increasingly difficult to fund improvements to the path. Contributions from local businesses make this much easier as it demonstrates the path's value to the local economy, with each £1 contributed enabling us to lever in £3 - £4 from other sources. Over the past 3 years, the SWCP Team and Association have worked with hundreds of businesses, and the money they have contributed has meant that we have been able to undertake 160 path improvement projects with a total value of over £600,000.
- Sponsor local events - Following the success in 2013 of the Great SW Walk, the SWCP Association are planning another series of fundraising walks next year. Becoming the sponsor of one of these walks and / or entering a team is a good PR opportunity
How to keep up to date with Coast Path news
- Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/swcoastpath
- Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/southwestcoastpath
- Sign up to the SW Coast Path consumer and / or tourism trade e-newletters
Who looks after the Coast Path and how to report any problems
- Maintenance & Reporting problems: Day to day maintenance of the path is undertaken by the Highway Authorities (normally the county council), and the National Trust. If you or your guests encounter a problem with the path, please report it to your council’s public rights of way team (Google search for x council public rights of way), or to the SW Coast Path Team - http://www.southwestcoastpath.com/faq/report-problem/ . When reporting a problem, please be to enable the wardens to quickly find as precise as possible in describing the location and the problem, and if you have it a photo is always really helpful.
- Funding for path maintenance is largely provided by Natural England, with the County Council’s and the National Trust providing 25%. Between 2010 and December 2013, the SWCP Team have been delivering the £2.5 million Unlocking our Coastal Heritage project which is an investment by the Rural Development Programme for England and Defra to increase the economic value of the path to the region.
- Promotion (including the website) and strategic management is undertaken by the SW Coast Path Team, who can be contacted at [email protected]. The Team can provide content (text and images) for media use, and can help with press trips.
- The South West Coast Path Association is a charity representing walkers. They produce an annual guidebook to the path containing detailed accommodation listings and they raise money to improve the path. Their website is www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk