Budleigh Salterton is joining forces with four other East Devon towns to boost the visitor economy, with an emphasis on green tourism.

The collaborative initiative will be led by Sidmouth Town Council, and will also involve Seaton, Honiton and Ottery St Mary.

The five towns will work closely together to promote sustainable tourism across East Devon, sharing ways to help local businesses find new markets. The aim is to build on the success of the Visit Sidmouth brand, developed over three years by the town council in partnership with its marketing partner Ignyte, and bring similar benefits to the four other towns.

The initiative has been made possible by a grant from East Devon District Council.

Budleigh Salterton’s involvement in the scheme will be led by Helen Warren, chair of the town’s Chamber of Commerce and a director of the Tourist Information Centre, who said she is ‘delighted’ to be part of it.

She said: “This is an exciting initiative that will provide a much-needed boost to the economy of the area as it emerges from several years of hardship during the pandemic.

“Budleigh Salterton Chamber of Commerce work closely with Budleigh Information Centre, who have recently updated their own website and branding to Love Budleigh, with an emphasis on sustainable tourism and serving the local community.

“However, including Budleigh in a larger website that has more resources and a wider reach will offer the additional benefit of promoting tourism to East Devon and presenting Budleigh Salterton as a destination worth visiting while holidaying in the area.

“Working in partnership with the other towns, learning from their experiences and being offered the opportunity to work with leading tourism marketing professionals can only be of huge benefit to all involved.

“Sharing the resources available for this project amongst the partner towns is a far more cost-effective way of using the grant funding than any one of us could have realised individually.

“The provision of an online shop on the new website promoting local produce and providing a much larger marketplace than most SMEs can afford to invest in is a facility that Budleigh Salterton Chamber of Commerce particularly applauds as an aid to local businesses.”