The aim of the partners in this project was to :

1. Identify development activities in waterfront and coastal areas in order to create an inspiring framework for private sector investment resulting in new visitor and resident experiences. This was achieved by the range of infrastructure improvements that took place along the coast together with a number of new plans and masterplans that will be developed in the future and have provided a lasting legacy to the programme.

2. The project delivered a new business support programme that was designed to help existing businesses identify and diversify into new markets to protect existing jobs

Encourage start up tourism businesses in order to offer alternative employment to redundant workers from other sectors and create new jobs. The business support programme enabled a range of businesses to stay ahead of the competition by giving them the skills required to operate with new technology and develop new services .

A series of study trips and best practice visits were developed , targeted to a range of businesses, planners, decision makers to identify opportunities for private investment and development on the waterfront to improve the range and quality of facilities on offer to visitors. The visits were also intended to inspire and inform for future developments in the partner regions.

3.The project succeeded in identifying business support needs and delivered solutions that provided long term improvement on quality and skills. . The end result is better, more successful and sustainable businesses with a more highly skilled workforce.

Actions under Activity 1:

- A series of study trips took place to demonstrate best practice developments in coastal regions and also the new developments for this project so that key influencers would be inspired and informed, studies into development of beach shelters and showers took place

- A number of waterfront improvements and developments were implemented to deliver the objective on waterfront regeneration- Gull Island, Casino study, beach huts, bike storage points

- A study into beach hut development,a study trip into the development of beach huts in Zeeland and the Belgian Coast, development of innovative ice cream kiosks, beach huts, beach clubs and a study into the new casino were part of the innovative waterfront services and facilities

- Business improvement and engagement with the business community took place with the series of study trips and best practice visits where entrepreneurs were invited to view new facilities with the objective to learn, inspire and inform future developments



Activity 2: A business support programme was developed, this was rolled out to coastal businesses with the specific aim to enable them to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market place. Start up businesses were included in the overall training and business support programme - funding, advertising, quality and customer care courses were delivered as part of the overall programme.



Activity 3:

- Tourism marketing campaign that cross promoted where relevant to the target audience.

- A series of niche and themed campaigns that included: Frontline Kent; Discovery Coast campaign;Tourist maps in Belgium and Zee Van Smaak magazine features, Seagastronomy ; cycling campaign;Food and Drink;

- Partners attended travel shows in Vakantiesbeurs, Salon des Vacances, Clacton Air Show, Tendring Show, St Pancras ..

- Best practice information was shared on Kent visitor centres programme, study trips took place in Worthing, Neufchatel-Hardelot, Thanet to view visitor information processes

• 1 design for 7 beach houses

• 1 Surf Club in De Panne built

• New playground was constructed

• 1 new trail with 7 artworks

• A mobile Information bike

• A Beach Management plan

• A Masterplan

• A Feasibility study for a Casino in Middelkerke

• Studies around the Sand Yachting Centre in Neufchatel-Hardelot

• 5 new beach huts for Ice cream sellers

• Facilities installation in Le Touquet beach

• 3 feasibility studies for yachting club

• New storage and charging points were installed for the Fort den Haakweg in Veere

• 1 Urban plan for the regeneration of Veere

• A new tourism business advisory service

• PR and Marketing campaigns (watersports, gastronomy, Frontline, Cultural)

• training events and workshops

• 500 SMEs benefited from one-to-one business support

• 5 best practice study tours

• 21 communication camapaigns

We have looked at our application form and the beneficiaries have not changed. All the partners benefitted from the project in terms of learning and sharing of knowledge and expertise. Best practice visits and study trips provided inspiration for a range of developements that will inspire and inform future developments for waterfront regeneration.
Existing and new tourism businesses, coastal communities, tourism bodies, local authorities, planning authorities - local authorities responsible for the economic vitality, regeneration and future use of the deprived or sub-standard waterfront areas targeted by SEACONOMICS.
- entrepreneurs and businesses benefitting from improved economic vitality of the sites
- local communities in the towns and regions home to the regenerated waterfront areas
- tourists and visitors making use of regenerated waterfront facilities.

- professionals in regeneration and transformation of waterfront areas
- stakeholder organisations in coastal areas in transformation
- the local communities and general public in waterfront areas in the 2 Seas area.

The general population of the 2 Seas area will benefit from the project as an increasing number of tourists coming to the area and spending their money will in turn lead to local job creation and the further development of the local economy.

In Activity 1 the new developments for the regeneration of the waterfront will have a long lasting legacy for visitors and residents and will aid the long term regeneration of coastal towns as inspiring and vibrant places to live, work and invest. The feasibility studies and masterplans are documents that will inform and be implemented in future schemes to add to the long term legacy of this programme. Partners, planners , key decision makers learnt much from the programme by sharing of knowledge , attending best practice and study trips which aided decisions within their own areas.

In Activity 2 over 500 businesses received dedicated training support on a range of new topics and subjects which have enabled them to remain competitive, given them new skills to use to enhance their business, and inspiration workshops have enabled them to develop new products and services.

Activity 3 - produced a range of high quality promotional material which propelled the coastal regions into high awareness with visitors and local community on the wealth of activities, new products, inspirational itineraries. The results of the campaigns continue to be evaluated and will provide another long term legacy to the programme.

Many of the project activities would not have been realised without cross border intervention. It is difficult to always justify how developments in each partner location can be termed cross border, however the value of working with cross border partners can not be underestimated. The partners shared the same objectives in the project and shared a variety of ways of meeting those objectives. Sharing of knowledge and expertise has been invaluable, sharing of new ideas provides new inspiration for the partners to add value to their local actions. Best practice visits and the study trips were an invaluable element of this project, where key influencers on coastal development could attend, business entrepreneurs could be inspired to develop new projects and invest in the coast. New markets can be reached to encourage our local resident populations to visit the partner regions. These are valuable audiences for new projects aimed at carbon management, transport and mobility and deliver framework conditions for innovations for SME’s. Relationships have been formed to work on future projects under new themes.

We developed synergies with COOL project in Channel programme. This project was a rural programme so provided valuable insight into the development and products available in the coastal hinterland that could only enhance the coastal project

The partnership will continue to try and work together on building on the work already completed, it is a very important for the partners that we continue to develop our product and our coastal regions to remain competitive, deliver a quality experience to our visitors and enrich the quality of life for our resident population.

The studies that have been conducted, the developments on waterfront regeneration remain in place as a valuable piece of work, providing a long lasting legacy for visitors and the local communities. The findings within the reports and studies will be used for future development activity and will be used as a valuable body of evidence to inspire and inform future developers/planners.

Under Activity 2 A well trained and skilled business sector has been developed with new skills to enable them to remain competitive, this will be built upon to ensure that they remain ahead and the evidence gathered will be used to develop future programmes based on profitability of this valuable business sector. The destination partners will keep a limited business support programme in place to ensure quality , business toolkits have been developed that can be used for new businesses

The partnership will remain in contact with each other and will continue to co-operate on new project ideas to stimulate regeneration and profitability for the 2 Seas region.We wish to keep this partnership alive. The challenges in these regions are quite similar. We’ve booked progress in our regions but we don’t feel ‘the job is done’. So, yes we would like to follow up on this project with new themes on innovation of SME’s in this sector and a project to look at carbon management programmes for these destinations. New bids will be submitted to tackle these programme areas. However, external funding will be necessary since we can ‘t self-finance these activities.

Yes we would like to follow up on this project with new themes on profitability of SME's in this sector and a project to look at energy efficiency in businesses and carbon management programmes for the destinations. New bids will be submitted to tackle these two programme areas