Janet Redler Travel and Tourism, which brings foreign tourists into the county, believes Shropshire is losing out on millions of pounds from foreign tourism.

Stokesay Castle, Shropshire

According to our calculations, if just 10% of the 4.15 million visitors who currently visit the Brecon Beacons National Park came to visit the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this could result in extra income of £8.23 million to the local economy.

The Brecon Beacons, just over the border in Powys, is one of Britain’s most popular National Parks, with over 4 million visitors a year. If 10% of these visitors made the 25 mile journey up the road to the Shropshire Hills, they would be bringing over £8 million pound a year more into the Shropshire economy. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, if some of the other tourists passing through the county visited one of Shropshire’s many beautiful, but often overlooked, attractions.

Shrewsbury-based Janet Redler Travel & Tourism specialisesin bringing groups from overseas to Britain and is doing its bit to boost tourism in Shropshire.

Chief Executive Janet Redler says: “Our calculations are a very conservative estimate of how much money the Shropshire economy is missing out on from tourism. If a fraction of the visitors to some of the country’s other major tourist destinations chose Shropshire instead, we would see millions of pounds more flowing into the local economy.

“Just next week Janet Redler Travel & Tourism is bringing a group of visitors from France to the Shropshire Hills for a seven day walking tour. This tour in itself will bring in over £10,000 to the local economy, which has to be good in terms of local jobs, but we are also very happy that we are giving more people an opportunity to enjoy the magnificent Shropshire countryside."

The French walkers will take in many of the gems of the Shropshire Hills, including the town of Clun, made famous by the poet A.E. Housmann, the Stiperstones (Mary Webb country) and Stokesay Castle, considered to be the finest fortified manor house in Britain.

Janet Redler adds: “We know from the feedback we get that foreign visitors to Shropshire are pleasantly surprised by what they find when they get here and are often puzzled as to why they don’t know more about the area. As a tourist destination, Shropshire needs to do much more to shout about itself, not only to boost tourism but to benefit the wider economy of the area.”