Agenda item

Slideshow by Tourism Manager on embedding sustainability into tourism with Thanet.

Paula Harbidge led the discussion and made the following comments:

• The Council has a Destination Management Framework in place and this was about shared priorities working with local businesses and organisations. All partners involved in Thanet’s Visitor economy including local businesses were key in developing the plan;
• The framework is about strengthening and growing the sector, in value not necessarily about volume by increasing visitor spend through staying visitor and extending the season and a more sustainable tourism economy in Thanet;
• The Council was keen to showcase to those businesses about using sustainable approaches for reducing the carbon footprint;
• A Green Tourism Toolkit had been launched which focused on areas of energy, water, waste and supply chain to reduce the carbon footprint;
• Content including, web pages, blogs and social media had been created to share the information for incoming visitors, encouraging off-peak visitors to come to the district and keeping the coastline clean; 

• There are monthly newsletters going out that include green topics and the Council has a very good relationship with Southeastern Railway and they help in passing on the message about visiting Thanet;
• The Council is working with Kent County Council and Kent Districts on a new sustainable tourism action plan for Kent for 2023-2030;
• There is a green champion in the Tourism Team who had undertaken some training;
• Electric Vehicles had been ordered for the team;
• The team was working on ideas working with businesses for making it easier for visitors to hire and store electric bikes for cycling around the district when visiting Thanet;

Next Steps

• The team was exploring opportunities with transport providers to encourage overnight visitors;
• The Team was also working on progressing with businesses the cycles for hire provision as storage for bikes for visitors;
• Business surveys to be repeated and the results compared with previous surveys carried out in 2021;
• The team has looked into whether the council could join the Green Destination Standards. However, this was a resource intensive commitment as it required a dedicated officer and a Green Destination Plan to be developed.

Members made comments and asked questions as follows:

• The team could explore local food and highlight local fishing vessels and encourage local businesses to buy from them;
• They could also highlight the local agricultural produce and encourage businesses to use these;
• Local Green Heroes: Highlight and publicise all these give them support;
• Locally cut flowers should also be highlighted;
• How were Impact Heroes identified?
• Malle Beach Run Events: There would usually be over 400 bikes running on the main sands;
• Could the CAG get a report on whether there was any negative impact on local beaches as a result?

Paula Harbidge responded to Member comments and questions as follows:

• It was good idea to highlight local businesses and local agricultural produce a bit more;
• Nash Farm and other similar farms would be included for publicity by the team;
• Impact Heroes were identified through an online form that was completed. Thanet Coast Project, Windmill Community Projects and Dane Valley Woods would be a perfect fit for submitting a form for consideration;
• The forms would be considered by a Panel;
• It would be a good idea to send out the online link to these groups with some comms;
• The issue regarding the Marley Beach Run Event could be checked with the Events Team;
• Changing the event venue would face the challenge of finding the right location for spectators to watch from;
• Electric models could be considered in place of fossil fuel ones.

The Chair asked officers to bring a report on the impact of the Malle Beach Run Event on Thanet Beaches to a future CAG meeting.

Members noted the report.