SOMERSET County Council is promoting free workshops for flood-hit tourist businesses, run by Visit Somerset and Visit England.

They take place at the Yarn Market, Dunster on March 27, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, at RNAS Yeovilton, on March 28, Glastonbury Town Hall on March 31, and the Grand Pier, Weston on April 1.

The events are meant to help businesses concerned about the impact of the floods on visitor numbers for the rest of the year.

Speakers will include:

  • Manda Brookman, director of the CoaST one Planet Tourism Network
  • Jim Hardcastle from Viper Marketing
  • Dr Simon Forsyth, an expert in climate and weather changes

“It’s important that everyone understands we continue to welcome visitors to our fantastic county and we must make sure the negative impacts of these floods are not prolonged now that the waters are receding and spring is in the air.

“Anything that can be done to help businesses get back on their feet as quickly as possible is to be encouraged.”

John Turner, Visit Somerset’s chief executive, said: “With around 3,000 leisure and tourism businesses in Somerset accounting for 25,000 jobs, it means £850m for the economy, which is why it is so important this action is taken.

“While the vital assistance quite rightly continues for those directly affected by the flooding, we also need to help those who have been indirectly affected and these workshops are for both.

“The aims of these sessions are to provide businesses with advice to enable their operations to recover effectively, to prepare for future weather events and support businesses to put in place effective continuity plans as well as learn important skills for promoting their business.”

All the workshops run from 9am to 4pm. To book, click here.
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