Tourism South East (TSE) has emphasised the importance of marketing traditional rural attractions at this year’s Rural Ways conference, held at the Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex.

TSE claimed that “Some of the highest quality rural leisure experiences are here in the South East, but the public needs to be made more aware of them.

“This will only be realised if regional agencies and local authorities take a joined up, partnership approach.”

One of the activities seen as quintessentially British and having appeal to inbound tourists is horseracing.

Ed Coke, marketing manager of British Horseracing Board (BHB), said: “Our goal is to promote the sport and make inbound and domestic tourists more aware of it.

“Most are familiar with the likes of Ascot, but we aim to make a trip down to smaller, rural tracks just as appealing.

“In the long run, we hope to make the likes of Plumpton and Brighton attractive to visitors from Europe and the rest of the world.” Details: www.britishhorseracing.com