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| People and the countryside |
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| In the past |
 Fifty years, rural tourism has been transformed:
- Visitor numbers have significantly increased, as people are no longer dependent of public transport or organised trips.
- Daytrips to relatively distant locations have become a possibility.
- Countryside tourism has become a major rural industry and a big countryside employer.
- Rural tourism spending has increased to £13.8 billion per year.
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| Today |
We are seeing the consequences of that growth:
- Rural tourism supports 380,000 jobs and 25,000 small businesses. These depend on the countryside being open and accessible.
- Growing costs of maintaining an open countryside, not usually paid for by those who benefit directly from it.
- Improved facilities for local populations such as pubs and shops, which depend on tourists to remain open.
- Millions of visits, usually by car, with inevitable impact on rural roads and communities.
- Sometimes uneasy relations between those who use land for agriculture and those who use it for leisure.
- Increased competition for access to land between different leisure groups such as walkers and riders.
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| In a sustainable future |
Tourism will be a vital part of the economy and character of the countryside. The challenge is to ensure that tourism benefits both visitors and rural communities by:
- Managing countryside access to promote economic, social and environmental interests.
- Ensuring local involvement in developing tourism facilities.
- Developing tourism through improved facilities, training and marketing.
- Paying for the upkeep of countryside that is free for all to use.
- Enabling more countryside dwellers to benefit from the wealth generated by visiting and leisure activities.
- Integrating public access with commercial land use for farming.
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