SEASIDE holidays may be coming back into fashion – but more needs to be done bring young people and business events to the coast.

A report by the Bournemouth-based National Coastal Tourism Academy found the English coast had regained its status as the top destination for domestic overnight stays – dislodging the ‘city break’.

The report, Coastal Tourism 2016, was launched with a visit from tourism minister David Evennett and found that seaside tourism was worth £8billion to the economy, with 13.7million seaside trips a year.

Samantha Richardson, director of the academy, said: “It challenges the perception that coastal tourism is in decline. There’s significant potential for growth.”

The report found the coast accounted for 31 per cent of domestic overnight holiday trips and eight per cent of tourism day visits.

But the report also found the growth in tourism jobs was not replicated to the same scale on the coast.

Fifteen per cent of international visitors came to the English coast, in trips valued at around £927m – but Ms Richardson said the figure should be higher.

Mr Evennett said it was important to get more overseas visitors venturing outside London. “My job as tourism minister is to get more domestic tourists coming to see our coastal communities and great places like Bournemouth,” he said.

The report said coastal communities should be seeking to attract more off-season visitors, develop health and ‘wellness’ breaks and becoming business destinations.

They should also work to increase awareness among under-35s.

Ms Richardson said: “There’s no doubt that our coastline is much-loved and cherished by the nation and yet for many, visiting the coast isn’t a high priority – this is fundamentally because of a lack of awareness.

“What’s needed is stronger communication with clear messages, carefully targeted for their audience.”

Coastal businesses continued to have a challenging time recruiting and retaining staff, especially among chefs, house-keeping and customer service staff. Twelve per cent of staff came from overseas and a quarter were under 25 – rising to 30 per cent of under-25s in restaurants.

Although coastal resorts were seeing more short breaks, following the national trend, “the delay in seeing this trend realised is evidence of the slow speed of change on the coast”.

The report said because of the high volume of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the sector, involvement from the public sector was needed to coordinate efforts.

“The most successful destinations are those that have had strong leadership, a clear strategy for destination management and collaborative partnerships across the public, private and tertiary sectors,” the report said.

In its findings on off-season business, the report found ‘pre-family’ households and ‘empty nesters’ were attracted by ‘top-up travel’ between main holidays.

It said one in five people take a dedicated ‘wellness’ break each year, yet these breaks represent only eight per cent of trips to the coast.

Business travellers should be a target market as they spend on average 72 per cent more than leisure travellers and are far less seasonal.

Research into the attitudes of under-35s showed 78 per cent said there were other places they were more interested in visiting, while 53 per cent lacked knowledge of what was available on the coast. Only nine per cent rejected seaside visits outright.

The report says: “Critically, the coast has an awareness issue – it’s not that visitors don’t want to go to the coast, it is simply that they don’t know enough about what is on offer.”

Other recommendations in the report included:

  • Continued investment in research and development, best practice and achieving growth’ support and training for SMEs and independents;
  • Support to create partnerships within and between destinations;
  • Ongoing commitment to the coast in line with national averages; and
  • Increased support to change the perceptions of non-visitors, the media and government.