Tourism Development Study for 'Conkers'
Conkers is the £16m visitor centre in the new National Forest in Leicestershire. The Heart of the Forest Foundation asked us in 2003, in association with our project partners Land Use Consultants, to look at the potential for integrating 1,000 acres of surrounding land into their development plan for the site. Our role was to look at tourism related development opportunities to help subsidise management of the extended site.
We undertook a detailed survey of the site and the surrounding sub-regional tourism/leisure offer. From this we developed a long-list of potential ideas and undertook market appraisals on a range of developments, from visitor accommodation (hotels, self-catering lodges, caravan/camping) to new attractions including activity centres, motorised sport and an extension of the existing operation into a larger, themed children’s attraction. Some of the accommodation has now been developed and other projects are still being reviewed, pending funding.
