Sustainable Tourism Project

Our Sustainable Tourism project brings together businesses, the community and visitors to collaborate in building resilience and reducing emissions in the visitor economy.

Tourism supports 73% of local businesses and 40% of our jobs, while generating around 50% of our community’s carbon footprint. These factors and our geographical isolation, far from the extent of public services enjoyed in other parts of Cornwall and the UK, make our local economy highly vulnerable to climate change.

Consequently, the Lottery’s funding is a vital investment to help the local businesses on which our community depends adapt and survive. Without it, climate change will damage our jobs and our local economy, which will have profound impacts on our community’s wellbeing and health, and on Bude’s long-term viability as a coastal destination and as a place to live a decent life.

Among various initiatives, this project supports 10 local ‘Climate Champion’ businesses to mentor 50 local ‘Climate Pioneer’ tourism businesses to cut their carbon footprints by 50% over five years by sharing best practices. This kind of assistance would usually cost thousands of pounds to a business, but the Lottery funding means we can provide it because it will bring about changes that benefit our community and our town.

We’ll also be developing and applying a host of other initiatives, such as a tourism-specific carbon footprint calculator and an accreditation scheme, that we’ll be testing and refining in this innovative and dynamic project. Our initiatives also aim to protect and enhance the natural environment, upon which the visitor economy and our own wellbeing are so reliant.

Bude Area Tourist Board will be delivering this project in collaboration with Exeter University, Cornwall Action for Sustainable Tourism and other partners, such as the National Trust and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

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To find out more about our strategy and the reasons behind it, please download our Sustainable Tourism report.