About

Summary

Acorn was commissioned to undertake an eight year sustainable tourism development strategy for the Falkland Islands, a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic.  The Falklands has limited options for increasing flight capacity, and therefore this strategy had to focus on expending the tourism sector and increasing visitor spend without necessarily increasing the number of arrivals.  In addition to this, the main attraction of the Falklands is the wildlife, so it was important to develop a strategy that minimised the environmental impact.

The Falkland Islands had a robust system of tourism statistics that Acorn had set up in 2007, and therefore there was a solid base of data upon which the strategy was based.  The overall aim was to develop a detailed strategy for the period 2016-2023, with a longer term vision for tourism in the Falklands in 2030.

Our Approach

Acorn undertook a consultative approach to the research required prior to the development of the strategy, which included meetings with the Falkland Islands Government, Falkland Islands Tourist Board, the private sector in the Islands (including accommodation, operators and guides), and international tour operators.

We undertook a strategic context review, which included assessing all the relevant strategies that needed to be taken into consideration, including the Rural Development Strategy, Islands Plan and Economic Development Strategy.

Based on our research we developed a tourism vision for 2023 and a number of tourism strategic pillars that the proposed strategy would be built on – these individually focussed on the inbound overnight tourism segment and the cruise visitor segment.  The strategy included four overarching key development strategies: Research and Marketing, Product Development, Infrastructure, and Human Resources/Institutional.  A detailed budget and implementation plan provided a realistic timeline for the roll-out of the strategy.

Outcome

The vision of the strategy was to develop a sustainable and economically significant tourism sector, creating an industry that provides excellent opportunities for residents in Stanley and Camp, and a destination that offers tourists the best possible experience to realise their travelling ambitions. 

The tourism strategy pillars included extending the existing season and developing honeypots to attract tourists to lesser visited areas.  For cruise visitors, they included encouraging cruise operators to visit more rural destinations in the Islands and enhancing the day visit experience in Stanley.

A comprehensive set of measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) and growth targets for the period to 2023 was included in the strategy, all of which are currently being met or have been exceeded (as of March 2020), indicating the success of the strategy, which Acorn subsequently updated following the COVID-19 pandemic.