12. Addressing sustainable travel and transport in rural destinations with Hannah McDonnell, Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership

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In this episode, Kelly chats to responsible tourism advocate and director of Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership, Hannah McDonnell. Hannah is also Visit Gloucestershire’s lead on sustainability and social value.
Responsible tourism, in which Hannah holds a master's degree, is an approach focusing on sustainability and making places better for both local residents and visitors.
In our conversation, Hannah tells us how her passion for sustainable tourism began in rural Portugal. Hannah took over a smallholding to run holidays targeted at honeymooners wanting to kick off their married life in a low impact and environmentally friendly way.
Hannah talks about her work with the Rail Partnership, as well as Visit Gloucestershire, and some of the organisations she is working with to bring about and influence change. She shares:

• the importance of making the transport links right for local people first;
• several ways places can address the sustainable transport issue;
• details of some of the fantastic initiatives in places like Devon and Cornwall that have led the way in boosting local communities through better transport links.

Find out more about Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership:

The partnership have created some lovely trail maps and also have plans to create more joined-up tourism routes which can be booked online.

If you live near a train station in the UK and want to access Gloucestershire without a car, check out these walks and cycle routes in and around Stroud, Stonehouse, Lydney and Cheltenham: www.gloucestershirecommunityrail.org/leisure-trails.

Find out more about Visit Gloucestershire:

• www.visitgloucestershire.co.uk
• www.instagram.com/visitgloucestershire

Contact Hannah:

• Connect on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/responsibletourismhannah
• Email Hannah: [e-mail]

Find out more about the marketing strategy and mentoring services with the Visitor Elves.
This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling.

Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations.
They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today.
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