ABSTRACT
The Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is a protected landscape in upland Lancashire and North Yorkshire (northern England), which is internationally important for its heather moorland, blanket bog and rare birds. Recent work to develop sustainable tourism in the area identified the need to create a ‘sense of place’ or ‘brand identity’ for Bowland in order to raise awareness of the area and its special qualities, and to encourage tourists to develop a loyalty to the area, and so become regular visitors. This was achieved through the creation of a sense of place toolkit and provision of training courses for tourism businesses and other partners, and the development of a brand and communications strategy for the AONB Unit itself. The toolkit has become widely known and respected within the sustainable tourism sector and protected areas network in the UK, with similar work now being developed in the Cairngorms, South Pennines and the Clwydian Hills.
