Tourism is even bigger business for 1066 Country

The latest tourism figures show that tourism means even bigger business for 1066 Country.

Kevin Boorman, manager of 1066 Country Marketing, the private/public sector partnership responsible for tourism marketing in the area, explained :- ‘Tourism South East have just published our results for 2018. These show that the total value of tourism activity in 1066 Country in 2018 is estimated to have been around £664.7m, up by some 7% compared to 2017. This income supported an estimated 15185 actual jobs, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2017.

“These are incredibly good figures against a backdrop of declining numbers of tourism trips nationally, and show just how important our work is.”

Stewart Drew, the chair of 1066 Country Marketing added :- “These are excellent results for us. I am especially heartened because we have adopted a new ten year strategy, and relaunched our new website just last week. This should help to sustain the positive trend, boosting the economy of 1066 Country and create even more jobs.

“I am very grateful for the many tourism businesses who support us in our work, and, of course, our local councils. In particular, the support of Rother District Council and Hastings Borough Council is invaluable, and I am really delighted that their investment has produced such fantastic results.”

England’s Creative Coast

Seaside towns thriving with creativity, breathtaking coastal landscape and some of the most thought-provoking contemporary art being produced today – England’s Creative Coast spans 1400 km of shoreline from the South Downs to the Thames Estuary.

This beautiful and dramatic landscape has inspired artists for centuries and in 2020, seven new site-specific artworks by seven international contemporary artists – Andreas Angelidakis, Mariana Castillo Deball, Holly Hendry, Jasleen Kaur, Katrina Palmer, Pilar Quinteros and Michael Rakowitz – will connect the coastline of Essex, Kent and East Sussex and the world-class arts organisations in these places.

The Waterfronts series of artworks will be set in the landscape of Margate, Folkestone, Hastings, Bexhill-on-Sea, Eastbourne, Gravesend and Southend-on-Sea. Launching in spring 2020, these temporary works will open sequentially over the summer and be on display until late autumn.

The commissioned artists are:

  • Holly Hendry, working with De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea
  • Michael Rakowitz, working with Turner Contemporary for Margate
  • Mariana Castillo Deball, working with Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne
  • Andreas Angelidakis, working with Hastings Contemporary
  • Pilar Quinteros, working with Creative Folkestone as part of Folkestone Triennial 2020
  • Jasleen Kaur, working with Cement Fields in Gravesend
  • Katrina Palmer, working with Metal in Southend-on-Sea

Taking the border between land and water as their inspiration, each artist will respond to these unique coastal locations, focusing on issues, stories and questions related to the area to offer fresh perspectives on each place.

De La Warr Pavilion is working with Holly Hendry to create an artwork for Bexhill-on-Sea. She makes sculptures and installations that give physical form to ideas around emptiness, edges, absence, flatness, fakes and forgeries — things that are missing and unknown. For Bexhill-on-Sea, she will investigate the precise boundary between land and water and the impact on one by the other.

On the commission she says: “Making an artwork for Waterfronts, for me, is a consideration of edges. This deals with ideas of above and below, inside and outside, on the land, in the sea or under the ground. Edges seem to be definitive, a beginning or an end, a perimeter of sorts, and a line that highlights contested notions of ownership and free movement. Now is a time of uncertain edges, and Bexhill-on-Sea’s geographical, archaeological and social positioning is an exciting and complex location to consider some of these ideas.”

England’s Creative Coast is led by Turner Contemporary and Visit Kent and encompasses a whole cultural travel experience. Through the world’s first art Geotour, you will be able to game as you move through the landscape, discovering the commissioned artworks, collecting geocaching rewards and hidden gems along the way.

To plan your trip to see these time-limited artworks you can curate your own journey using the England’s Creative Coast itinerary website and find further cultural adventures across Essex and West Sussex.