COOL Tourism

This blog was created as part of a European partnership project called COOL in March 2014.

COOL is a European partnership project all about improving and promoting rural tourism, part-funded by the EU Interreg IVA Programme and the European Development Fund.

The project is made up of a partnership of eleven local authorities and organisations across Englandand France, all sharing knowledge and experience to improve the attraction of rural tourism.

Why is Norfolk Trails Involved?

Given that COOL is made of up tourism organisations and local authorities, it may surprise you that Norfolk Trails have become involved.

We see our network of trails as a significant tourist attraction for the county. Although there is no entrance gate, no fee and no souvenirs, walking is undoubtedly a tourist pull for Norfolk.

We could even go as far as to compare it to other more traditional visitor attractions such as Banham Zoo, Blickling Hall and The Dinosaur Adventure Park.

In 2012, we installed a series of people counters along our trails to find out how many people are using our routes.  In 2012/13, half a million visits were made to our network! Breaking down this further, the visitation figures for some of our more famous trails rival visitation figures for the top ten tourist attractions in Norfolk!

What is COOL doing for Norfolk?

Through COOL, Norfolk Trails are running a series of smaller projects and initiatives, all with the aim of promoting rural tourism associated with Norfolk Trails. This work has been divided into four streams: Research, Business, ICT and Marketing.  Take a look around and see what COOL is doing in your area and the many ways in which you can get involved as a local business, organisation or individual.

1. Research 
2. Business 
3. ICT 
4. Marketing