Funding for Rural Businesses Great and Small

Yorkshire’s tourism industry can benefit from grants being made available through Yorkshire Forward.  People seeking to start, grow or improve a tourism business in rural parts of the region could be eligible for grants which are being rolled out as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

The move follows research commissioned by Yorkshire Forward which identified the need to improve the quality of the accommodation offering in some parts of rural Yorkshire.

Gary Verity, Welcome to Yorkshire’s chief executive, is keen for businesses to seize this opportunity to develop Yorkshire’s rural tourism offer. He says: “The Rural Development Programme is of immense benefit to our tourism operators and also the regional visitor economy. We want accommodation providers to take advantage of the support available to them to enhance their businesses and to ensure rural communities have a sustainable tourism offer.”

RDPE grants from £25,000 and equivalent to 50% of total project costs are available for accommodation meeting a set of criteria.

Serviced accommodation is the key priority; including rural pubs wishing to develop new high quality bedrooms, or to significantly upgrade existing accommodation if it will help the business become more economically sustainable. Self-catering accommodation will also need to clearly demonstrate how it will deliver economic benefit for the local area.

Andy Tordoff, Assistant Director of Environment (Rural Renaissance and Tourism) at Yorkshire Forward commented: “It is important that our region’s rural areas can offer high quality accommodation, to attract visitors and ensure they visit again, contributing to the regional visitor economy. RDPE’s Rural Enterprise Investment Programme is a flexible package that can be accessed by many tourism businesses located in rural areas and we are working hard with Welcome to Yorkshire to ensure Yorkshire and Humber’s rural tourism businesses take advantage of it.”

Funding is only available in Yorkshire and Humber’s rural areas. Businesses can use the following postcode checker to ascertain whether their location fits the criteria: www.yorkshire-forward.com/rural Tourism operators interested in further information should log onto http://www.welcometoyorkshire.net/