If breathtaking sea views and wonderful walks weren’t enough, imagine taking a stroll along your favourite South West Coast Path and being able to easily find nearby activities and accommodation on foot at the tap of your smartphone…
Thanks to Government funding, that’s exactly what the South West Coast Path Association plans to introduce to its visitors.
It’s likely you’ve explored some part of the South West Coast Path by now, with or without knowing it, and if you haven’t, you should because you’re missing out!
The 630-mile route around the coastline of the South West peninsula stretches from the shores of Somerset down to the coves of Cornwall, also taking in the depths of Devon and Dorset.
In a bid to make the route even more enjoyable for our visitors, the South West Coast Path Association plans to introduce new ‘bookable experiences’ including activities, places to eat and accommodation.
The Association is one of seven applicants to be awarded a share of the £40-million Discover England Fund; a three-year Government project targeting visitors from a range of international markets.
The South West Coast Path’s Amazing Experiences and Making Memories project will ‘work with destination management organisations across the region to develop and market the project online’.
On announcing the successful applicants, VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said the Fund attracted ‘an exceptional number of high quality bids, far outweighing the allocated funding available for year one’.
She said: “We are pleased to have chosen some excellent winners who we will now be working closely with to build world-class ‘bookable’ tourism products, showcasing the best of England to international and domestic visitors. We look forward to continuing the success of the Fund with larger scale bids worth more than £1 million in years two and three.”
Watch this space to find out when the new technology is coming to a path near you, but in the meantime, we’re all lucky to live and work in this beautiful part of the world so make sure you get out there and enjoy it!
