Nwes to hold start-up business courses in King's Lynn and Fakenham

According to the World Economic Forum, tourism exports globally exceeds the growth in merchandise exports – for the seventh consecutive year!

In their annual global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index covering 140 countries, Spain leads the field, again. Surprisingly popular hotspots such as Greece sail in at 25th with Turkey 43rd.

The UK owns a very admirable fifth place, but tourism is an industry rapidly creating winners and losers, thanks largely to the internet. AirBnB has turned thousands of ordinary homeowners into hosts, eager to capitalise on our newly discovered will to “share and prosper”.

The loss of Thomas Cook, reportedly the world’s oldest tour operator, is a sad reminder that this industry is competitive and changing fast.

Critics of this growth however point to the problems of “over tourism” caused by unsustainable visitor numbers. Meeting some of the costs through tourist taxes is not new. But in Venice earlier this year the City Council passed an act to charge daytrippers an entry fee of three euros. The backlash was significant and it’s now delayed until the end of 2019, maybe longer. Well at least we’re not the only ones in Europe dithering.

Closer to home, we’ve no such taxes and we’re surrounded by wonderful coastline with plenty to do inland. Visit Norfolk say tourism is the largest industry sector in the county supporting over 65,000 jobs, around 18 per cent of all employment in 2017.

It’s a sector therefore that unsurprisingly attracts entrepreneurs looking for a share of the tourist pound that increasingly is being spent in the shoulder seasons as day and short trip stays increase in popularity throughout the year.

So if you’ve thought of setting up a new business, whether in tourism or any other sector, our two-day First Steps to Start Up could be the next step as we’ll talk you through how to research and get your business planned to avoid the common pitfalls.

Our next course runs on October 14 and 15 in Lynn and October 21 and 22 in Fakenham.

I reckon we’re some way off seeing the toll booths appear around Hunstanton so there are plenty of opportunities to become an entrepreneur meanwhile…