Tourism Impacts &
Sustainable Developments Sustainable tourism on the Northumberland Coast

Sustainable tourism is all-year-round tourism. Tourism destinations, including the Northumberland Coast, often attract more tourists in the summer than in the winter. Tourism brings trade to local business and provides jobs for local people but it is not really sustainable if businesses are empty or closed and people are out of work in the winter.

As Iain Robson, from the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership says, "We don't need to say 'Come to the coast in summer' because it's full already."

Too much tourism in the summer is not sustainable either. Large visitor numbers leads to congestion, more air and noise pollution from traffic and a real risk that the crowds of people spoil the very places they have come to see.

So, the Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership recognises the need to spread the load and attract more visitors out of season – in the spring, the autumn and the winter. There is also a need to encourage peak season tourists to visit places away from 'honeypot' sites such as Bamburgh.

Two ways in which the Northumberland Coast AONB markets more sustainable tourism that is not in the peak season and is away from honeypot sites are:

• the 'Northumberland Coast by Bus' campaign
• 'Our Coast Our Sea' - an educational programme jointly developed with several partners including English Heritage, the National Trust and Northumberland Wildlife Trust.

'Our Coast Our Sea' includes online learning resources designed to encourage school visits in term-time. Such visits spread tourism across the year. A calendar of events promotes the area at all time of year. The interactive calendar on the 'Our Coast Our Sea' website (www.ourcoastoursea.org.uk) - accessed via a link from the bus itineraries - includes dropdown menus showing general events and sustainable volunteering opportunities. Entries for December 2012, for instance, include the Bamburgh Castle Christmas Concert and opportunities to take part in a beach clean up and survey.

Identify two ways each in which the 'Northumberland Coast by Bus' campaign and the 'Our Coast Our Sea' programme help promote sustainable tourism and record them on the Evidence Log.