Campaign to lure twitchers to the Broads
The Broads Authority is promoting the Broads to a new wildlife audience which it believes could lengthen the tourism season.
The Broads has been competing alongside exotic places such as Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, the Philippines and the USA as a key bird watching destination at the annual Bird Fair organised by the RSPB and Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust at Rutland Water.
Known as “the bird watchers’ Glastonbury” the event attracts the biggest gathering of bird watchers in the world, featuring wildlife celebrities and a full programme of lecturers whilst supporting global bird conservation.
But despite attracting destinations world-wide there were few UK representatives and the Broads Authority felt it had a field day luring twitchers to the Broads.
Bruce Hanson, Head of Tourism at the Broads Authority, said: “We were delighted with the response. Most people can’t afford to travel to these exotic places, while we are affordable and accessible and many people were delighted to see us. We found that lots of bird watchers head for the North Norfolk coast, but not further inland, so we grabbed the opportunity to promote the bird reserves on the Broads. People were genuinely surprised at what we had to offer – for instance there are eight National Nature Reserves in the Broads – and I am sure a lot of them will come and visit.
“We are trying to promote the Broads to the birding community as there are many rare and unusual species to be found here and some fantastic sites to see them. The best time to bird watch is out of season, in spring and autumn, which would lengthen the Broads tourism season. A lot of the visitors were families who, as well as bird watching, would like to engage in other activities as well.”
The campaign is part of the European-funded STEP project, promoting sustainable tourism.
For more information on birdwatching in the Broads visit: www.enjoythebroads.com/content/birdwatching
