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VISIT Forum 16/02/05 
Paper 1 


Discussion Comments on Draft Sustainable Tourism and Action Plan 


Background 

1. The Sustainable Tourism Strategy and Action Plan was circulated to VISIT 
Forum members, some NPA Board members and NPA staff on 1 February 
2005. Many have responded positively to the draft report noting that it is a 
strong and extremely comprehensive strategy. 


Incorporation of Comments 

2. The comments fall broadly into 3 types: 

a) Issues raised which require discussion and agreement on whether they 
should be incorporated by the VISIT Forum with the guidance of Richard 
Denman. These are summarised in annex 1 and include the majority of 
comments received up to and including 15th February 2005. 

b) Comments which can be incorporated without VISIT Forum discussion 
and these including a slight change of emphasis on wording or terminology; 
and suggestions for additional information or statistics. 

With the timescale and funding allowed for the development of the strategy, 
there was no allowance for any new research to be undertaken. Therefore the 
references within the strategy are to existing and emerging reports and 
strategies. The background research was completed by the consultants at the 
end of December 2004 and therefore any significant developments or finalised 
reports that have emerged since then may not have been taken into account. 

Where there are specific suggestions for additional information, efforts will be 
made by Park staff to incorporate these within the existing timescale. These 
comments are summarised in annex 2, and if any VISIT Forum member has a 
comments on these, they should be forwarded to the Sustainable Tourism 
Officer by 18th February. 

c) Minor typos and change of wording will be incorporated directly into 
the final version of the report. 


Timetable for Finalising the Report 

3. To meet the timetable for application to Europarc, the following timetable is 
proposed: 

• 17-22 Feb Incorporate all comments from VISIT Forum meeting 
and seek additional information as requested by members where possible. 

• 23-24 Feb Final read through and confirmation of any late 
comments to be incorporated by 2 – 3 volunteers, ideally from previous 
Strategy sub-group and Park staff. Produce covering Board Paper for 
presentation of Strategy and Action Plan to March Board meeting. 

• 2-7 Mar Completion of Europarc Application, see Paper 1 

• 11 March Presentation to NPA Board seeking the endorsement of 
the final draft strategy. In January 2004, the Board endorsed the development 
of a Sustainable Tourism Strategy and the successful application for, and 
implementation of, the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism as one of 
the seven key priority issues for tourism. Further, in February 2005 it 
approved expenditure to commission consultants to produce the Sustainable 
Tourism strategy so that the application to Europarc could be submitted in 
spring 2005. A final draft version will be presented to the Board, and this 
version will have been sent by post to Europarc. Any comments and outcomes 
from the NPA Board will be sent by e-mail to Europarc to meet the 15th 
March. 

• 15 March Application arrives at Europarc 


Publication of Documents 

4. It is envisaged that once finalised, the Strategy and Action Plan will not be 
published as a glossy version because it needs to remain a practical 
working document that is easy to update and take account of the many 
emerging strategies of both the Park and key partners. It will be widely 
circulated, placed on the website and made available to anyone who 
requests it. 

5. As a result, the production of a shortened version of the report for wide 
circulation is currently being investigated. This will be an A5 booklet, 
approx 16-20 pages with photographs and graphics and will also include 
visitor survey information that will be of use to tourism enterprises It is 
suggested that this is distributed to all tourism enterprises on the current 
database to raise awareness of the Strategy and Action Plan, and the 
current members of the VISIT Forum. It could also provide a list of Park 
staff with contact details for all those who have an involvement in tourism 
and visitor services. 


Debbie Strang 
Sustainable Tourism Officer 
February 2005