The Farming Express September 2 | Page 4

FARM STAY UK – The Tourist Office for the Countryside

VisitEngland recently announced that farms were the fastest growing sector in tourism last year, with visitor numbers up a whopping 10%. Are we surprised – definitely not!

That is because Farm Stay UK is the only dedicated promoter of farm accommodation businesses in the UK. If it has a bed, we promote it, be it B&B, self-catering, glamping or a bunk barn!

Created by farmers for farmers we are a NOT FOR PROFIT co-operative run by tourism professionals. It operates as a Members co-operative and exists to promote STAYING ON A FARM and puts every single penny back into promotion, marketing and PR, partnering with farming organisations such as Red Tractor to create promotions such as the one for this year’s BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT, highlighted below.

Since it was created in 1983 Farm Stay UK guests have spent a remarkable £3 billion in the rural economy, not only supporting farm accommodation businesses, but attractions, pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops. We are a creator of much needed rural jobs supporting accommodation businesses.

Not only that, but we go beyond just being a portal for selling holidays – we work with DEFRA, LANTRA and others to provide multi-faceted training programmes for our Members to help them run their businesses better, such as IT and social media training, digital photography, customer service and even farmhouse cooking!

AWARD WINNING – BEST TOURISM EXPERIENCE

30 years of providing a farm holidays allowed every single Farm Stay UK to be recognised in the VisitEngland Excellence Awards this year. Individual Members regularly win Best of Class categories, such as B&B, Cottage, Accessible and Sustainable, so we were thrilled that this was the first ever time an organisation had been honoured.

We have also been recognised for our Business Support, winning the prestigious People 1st - Shine Women in Business Award for Small Businesses in recognition of our training and development programmes.

NUMBER 1 on Google

We don’t spend money on pay per click – our State of the Art Website, rebuilt in 2014, ensures that guests looking for the farm experience find us.

It makes our website visitors search four times more likely to lead to a result than a random browser enquiry.

Take a look at www.farmstay.co.uk and see for yourself.