WELCOME TO THE ‘TOURISM’ PAGES OF THE DIOCESAN WEBSITE

Contacting the Tourism Officer

The Hereford Diocesan Tourism project has come to an end after achieving what it set out to do and more. The end of the project does not mean that Tourism has ended in our churches. We still strive to make a visit to any of our churches as welcoming, interesting stimulating and spiritual. Most of our churches and historic and the majority are Grade I and Grade II.

Later in 2008 we are hoping to build on what we have already done with a new project, part of the national Aspire project - go to http://www.aspireproject.info/ to find out more about this promising programme for Church tourism.

For visitors to our site please read more about the Project, visit a parish website by finding the church you want under http://www.hereford.anglican.org/pages/ch_mapsearch.html Or contact Anni Holden- details below Any Church needing advice please contact Anni Holden 01432 373342 or email a.holden@hereford.anglican.org

This area of the website has been developed to:

• Explain the Diocese of Hereford’s Tourism Project;
• Provide practical help to any Church in the Diocese wanting to improve on the experience it offers its visitors; and
• Provide visitor information on our Churches.

About the Project

The Hereford Diocese Tourism Project

Background to the Project

The Diocese of Herefordshire covers Parishes in Herefordshire, South Shropshire and a small number in Powys, Monmouthshire and Worcestershire. The Churches in the Diocese form an important part of the cultural and historic landscape with over 95% of them being Grade 1 or Grade 2* listed. All of them have the potential to be of interest to visitors. Many have already made very good attempts to attract visitors and provide them with a welcome, although progress has been dependent on a Church’s attitude and available time. Other Churches have not yet recognized their role in the tourism sector and in welcoming visitors.

National research carried out by the National Churches Rural Officer demonstrated the type of experience that visitors are looking for when they visit Churches, how far they have come, how large a group they arrive in and so on. Through this research visitors have highlighted the type of services, facilities and information that would make the experience a more enjoyable one, whether this is through for example, the provision of tours, leaflets, guidebooks etc.

In response to the findings of such research, the Diocese Tourism Project began in January 2004. The project, funded by the Countryside Agency, European Union and Central Church Fund, is ecumenical and will operate for a three year period. It has a budget of £150k over the three years and this sum funds the costs of a Tourism Officer and provides a small operational budget.

Mission

The project’s mission statement is:

To encourage Churches to take a more active role in developing a co-ordinated approach to tourism, making themselves available, informative, welcoming and interpretative to visitors through a variety of community partnership initiatives & through the sharing of best-practice...

The project aims to encourage approaches and projects which maximize the chances of sustainability. To this end the project aims to be non-prescriptive and takes a bottom-up approach. Initiatives are more likely to succeed if they are ‘owned’ by the Church and if they involve an outward looking approach, where the Church develops ideas in partnership with players in the wider tourism sector and community. Furthermore, the project aims to ensure that the initiatives that are adopted are realistic and appropriate for each Church.

The project seeks to provide a roadmap to success; the Churches provide the steerage!

Aims and Objectives

Within the overall mission there are several project aims and objectives. These are as follows:

• To work with selected pilot Parishes to assist them improve their visitor attraction and welcome and to develop them as models of best-practice.
• To develop a best-practice handbook which will provide Churches with the tools, techniques and approaches to tourism that they need.
• To support the work and progress of the Herefordshire Churches Tourism Group ( HCTG );
• To develop a Shropshire Churches Tourism Group ( SCTG );
• To produce an annual Events Booklet which promotes Church events (other than worship);
• To develop a dedicated ‘tourism’ area on the Diocese website;
• To provide advice and assistance to Churches wishing to develop their role within tourism;
• To prepare and publish a Churches Visitor Strategy.

The Tourism Project published a Churches Visitor Strategy in September, which is currently out for consultation. If you want a pre-view of this Strategy, Click on: Draft Churches Visitor Strategy: For Consultation