Tourism & Hospitality
Tourism and the visitor economy
The English Riviera attracts 4.5m visitors a year, generating £435m to the economy, with over 1,000 businesses employing nearly 12,000 people locally, c20% of Torbay’s population work in the tourism sector.
As a premier resort, the destination has leading and internationally recognised tourism businesses such as the World’s No1 B&B, voted two consecutive years in the TripAdvisor Excellence Awards, as well as many businesses winning in regional and national tourism awards.
Torbay is now seeing multi-million-pound investments including the Fragrance Group, with four new hotels, as well as further developments such as Hampton By Hilton, Premier Inn, St Austell Brewery, and other independent local business also investing in products and place.
These investments not only strengthen Torbay’s tourism offer, but also supports the ambition to be an all-year-round destination to both international and domestic visitors.
Now is the time to focus on Torbay’s recovery, resilience and growth
With the ‘staycation’ trend set to continue in line with consumer confidence and recovery from COVID-19, Torbay has the opportunity to yield the benefits of first-time visitors seen in 2020 (58% increase), and in 2021 (83%). Giving them a first-class experience and welcome when they are here to encourage their return and recommendation to friends and relatives.
Torbay
Read the English Riviera Destination Management Plan to learn more about what is now needed to take the destination forward, aligning to the Council’s objective for Torbay to become a premier resort and to bring about greater resilience in the local economy.
Working in partnership
Supporting the Heart of the South West region, TDA leads on tourism for the Heart of the South West LEP, with tourism embedded as a key theme in the plan to Build Back Better.
TDA also supports tourism partners across the Great South West region, through a new partnership the Great South West Tourism Partnership to develop and deliver this as part of the 2030 recovery plan.