THE head of the academy set up in Bournemouth to support British coastal tourism says it is helping win recognition for the industry.

The National Coastal Tourism Academy is lobbying for continued funding to secure its future.

It has already won funding for 2016 after its original two-year grant from central government came to an end. An all-party parliamentary committee has recommended it should continue as a national resource.

Samantha Richardson, director of the academy, said: “Coastal tourism in particular has been misunderstood for a number of years and tourism hasn’t always had the profile it deserves in terms of it creating one in three of the jobs in our economy at the moment.

“It deserves to be on the national stage and it’s getting the recognition that it deserves.”

The academy, based at Bournemouth University, has focused on improving the visitor experience and on assembling research in a resource for tourism business.

It has worked with more than 150 businesses in the town on more than 50 individual projects.

Ms Richardson said much of the initial effort had been focused on making Bournemouth a “world class experience”.

Frontline staff in tourism have been encouraged to improve their local knowledge, with 1,806 people taking the free Bournemouth Ambassador online training course.

“At the end of last year, we asked managers what they thought of it and whether it had worked for their business. Eighty-eight per cent said they would recommend it to another business and 82 per cent were more knowledgeable,” said Ms Richardson.

A staff handbook, Bite Size Bournemouth, offers convenient information. A Poole version of the training has also been developed.

“The other big thing we were tasked with was about bridging gaps in the research,” she said.

The academy had looked at what drives growth in the business, and had paid particular attention to the industry’s “shoulder season”.

“We were looking at how we make the season last longer and make Bournemouth a 365-day destination for everybody,” she said.

The results of that research have been seen in the Bournemouth Coastal Improvement District’s winter and spring campaigns, promoting the area as a destination for active holidays and also for garden lovers.

The academy also identified the importance of under-35s and their tendency to take more frequent but shorter breaks, often booked late. “We’ve also got the baby boomers coming up with more leisure time and they’re a significant part of the tourism economy,” Ms Richardson added.

The academy also supported the new Business Events Bournemouth body through its early days.

Several of the academy's six staff are researchers, trawling thousands of periodicals for relevant information to share through its online hub.

Extension to its funding would enable the academy to build on its work sharing the Bournemouth experience with other resorts, she believes.

“We’ve spent the last six months gradually building that understanding of other destinations,” she said.

“We spent the first year saying let’s understand Bournemouth, let’s work on Bournemouth, let’s get really informed of what the industry needs and where the challenges are.”

Tourism, she points out, is worth £501m a year to Bournemouth’s economy – up from £464 two years ago.

“It’s thriving in numbers but it’s really thriving in terms of the buzz,” she said.

“We’ve got the Hilton development, the Cherries news was fantastic for the town as a whole, we see lots of construction work. It’s been recognised nationally for a lot of things.”