EXPERIENCE - experiential tourism to extend the visitor season

EXPERIENCE is a €23.3 million project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (€16m ERDF) through the Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme 2014-2020. Norfolk County Council is the lead partner, working with 13 other organisations across 6 pilot regions in France and England.
 
Over the next 3.8 years, this project will harness the experiential tourism trend to extend the season (October - March), generating 20 million new visitors and delivering sustainable economic growth across the Channel region. Together, project partners will reinvent the way the economy, environment, communities and brands interact - focusing on sustainable, low-impact tourism activities to secure the future resilience of our natural and cultural assets.
 
Experiential travel is a growing movement in tourism with a tread lightly ethos, respectful of both people and place. Norfolk is brimming with wildlife, scenery, tradition, history, gastronomy and architecture which form an ideal basis for the development of world-class experiential tourism products. EXPERIENCE will work to unite cross-sector tourism stakeholders and use local knowledge to co-create innovative new tourism offer. We will upgrade existing infrastructure to support enjoyable off-season access to our natural and cultural heritage. Cutting-edge research, data and digital technology will be used to drive regional identity development, activation and demand stimulation to draw in new, high-value off-season visitors to Norfolk, benefitting both people and place.