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The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) is funding a project aimed at improving the competitiveness of rural tourism businesses in North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset. The project, called Rural Tourism Business Clusters, will be funded until March 2009.


Starting in January 2008, three Rural Tourism Business Clusters were set up, co-ordinated by the Tourism Skills Network, to facilitate exchange of ideas and plan a programme of support and training specific to small rural tourism businesses.

 

 

Why should you take part?

 

-You will have the opportunity to influence the design of a tailor-made programme of seminars and training

- You can consider ways to grow your business

- You will be able to share your experiences and network with other businesses

- You can benefit from a voucher scheme to purchase additional training sessions and business support

- You will be able to access expert professional advice through a dedicated Rural Tourism Development Officer

- You can take advantage of subsidised bespoke business support

- You will be able to discover new ways to promote your business and your area


Businesses who have already attended meetings have benefitted from influencing the programme of seminars provided. The seminars attended so far have covered Risk Assessment, and Search Engine Optimisation, with plans for a Marketing seminar to cover targeting customers and writing for the web, and an accredited food safety course.

The networking opportunities have also proved very popular as most businesses are owner operated and the chance to meet with others in similar businesses has been invaluable.
Work is being done on providing more web coverage for the rural areas surrounding Bristol, and providing businesses with funding through the project.

Membership of the Rural Tourism Business Network is free through funding from SWRDA. Additional funding is available for business support and training sessions - eligibility criteria apply.

 

 

The project is managed by Destination Bristol through the Tourism Skills Network, and is supported by the West of England Partnership, the West of England Rural Renaissance Partnership and Norton Radstock College.

Rurak