LONDON, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- An investment of around 340 million U.S. dollars to help save coastal sites around Britain is already paying dividends, the government's Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said Saturday.
New research by the department has revealed that 7,000 new jobs have already been created in coastal communities and boosted by thousands the number of visitors and tourists to the coastline.
Latest figures also show that the summer heatwave has been providing a major boost for the country's seaside towns and villages, with 55 percent of people in Britain flocking to Britain's beaches at least once this year.
Last year, nearly 17 million trips were taken by British residents to the English seaside, making it the most popular British destination.
The figures prove that the classic music hall song written in 1907, "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside" still rings true more than a century later.
A DCLG spokesperson said: "With record levels of investment in coastal communities, coastal tourism has regained its position as England's largest holiday sector, employing more people than the motor, aerospace, pharmaceutical or steel industries."
DCLG said almost 300 coastal sites across Britain have been saved, created or improved for future generations through its Coastal Communities Fund which runs until 2020.
Secretary of State for Communities James Brokenshire MP, said: "We're investing 264 million pounds (345 million U.S. dollars) into our coastal communities by the end of the decade. By 2020 we'll have invested more funds directly into coastal regeneration than any other government in history."
The research comes ahead of the announcement of the winners later this summer of a government Coastal Communities Fund "fast track" which will see new "shovel ready" projects receiving funding.
Schemes already completed include floodlighting the historic Perch Rock Lighthouse in the River Mersey near Liverpool, an art deco lido at Penzance in Cornwall, the largest surviving tidal saltwater lido in Britain, reviving the Spanish City Dome at Whitley Bay in North Tyneside, once an architectural icon and a major tourist attraction in the 1930s, and a new Heritage Quarter in Bognor Regis.
