The Visit Looe destination website will be officially launched next week with a practical webinar on what it takes to stand out from the crowd as a sustainable tourism business in Cornwall.

Leading the hour-long series of talks on Wednesday (Oct 6) will be Robin Barker who runs the Cornwall Tourism Awards. Barker’s long career in the tourism industry includes six years as head of direct marketing for Saga Group, five years as MD and deputy CEO at South West Tourism and three years as president of the Tourism Management Institute.

Joining Barker on the speaker panel will be Chris Hines, co-founder of Surfers Against Sewage and formerly Sustainability Director at the Eden Project; Callum Deveney, head of nature reserves at Cornwall Wildlife Trust; Karen Wells-West, owner of The Sanctuary, an eco-tourism bed and breakfast business in Golant that won gold at last year’s Cornwall Tourism Awards and Malcolm Bell, CEO of Visit Cornwall.

Visit Looe is owned and managed by Looe Town Council and is already attracting around 40,000 visits per month.

“Looe is a beautiful, historic town with so much going for it,” said Mel Colton-Dyer, the town council’s commercial strategy director. “The themes for our online launch are eco-tourism, quality tourism and experiential tourism and the speakers we’ve got are all expert in those fields.

“We’re hoping to inspire new ideas, as well as developing opportunities for collaboration and mutual support. The Visit Looe website is a communal resource that showcases our town’s accommodation, activities, places to eat and wonderful surroundings and this launch is all about building on that successful foundation and forging a bright, sustainable future for the town and its wide range of independent businesses.”

The launch event is free to attend and will run from 11am to midday on Wednesday October 6. To register, click here.