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1 Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines Final Mile – best practice guidelines Bath Spa railway station 2 Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines 3 Contents Introduction Encouraging more overseas visitors to explore Britain is a top priority; it spreads the economic benefit across nations and regions beyond London, and supports growth, job creation and retention. The recent government The Government Tourism Action Plan (launched in August 2016) supports this ambition and identifies rail as a key enabler to persuade overseas visitors to travel beyond London. What is the The Final Mile refers to the distance from a train station to Final Mile? an attraction. It could be within walking distance, or have a connecting bus service. But lack of detailed information, represents a barrier and may cause international visitors to opt for easier alternatives. Why is the final mile so important 4 Focus: Train Operating Companies 6 The challenge Most overseas visitors have limited understanding of Britain Casestudy - Great Western Railway 8 beyond London. There are language differences, and fears of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road1. Lacking the Casestudy - London Marylebone 10 confidence to explore the wider scenic beauty, heritage and and Bicester Village culture offering, independent travellers can be daunted Focus: Destination Management 12 unless they are part of an organised tour, or have prior Organisations (DMOs) knowledge of travelling by rail in Britain Gateway’s of England 14 Scottish Destinations 16 The solution Repeat visitors are more willing to explore further afield2, North Wales Tourism 18 therefore encouraging travel beyond London requires flexible Focus: Attractions 20 and imaginative solutions. The availability of up to date and easy to access information will increase confidence and Casestudy - West Somerset Railway 22 encourage greater use of rail services to explore all areas Casestudy - Penguin Navi 24 of Britain. Casestudy - Mountain Goat 25 This guidance looks at how destinations, train operators Attractions Website: Getting here template 26 and attractions can overcome Final Mile challenges (real and Contributor details 28 perceived). There are examples of innovative practice capable of adoption or adaptation, along with suggestions, support and advice. 1. Trains, the gateway to beyond London? report for Visit England 2016 2. https://www.visitbritain.org/sites/default/files/vb-corporate/Documents-Library/ Snowdon Mountain Railway, North Wales documents/foresight_149_-_frequency_of_inbound_tourism_to_britain.pdf 4 Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines 5 Why is the final mile so important? Inbound tourism is the fastest London accounts for 56% of all inbound train from London to Edinburgh (4hr 20m) visitor spend, the rest of England 35%, or six hours to Manchester (2hr 05m). At Zurich railway station, all growing travel sector with spend Scotland 8% and Wales 2% in 20163. Research shows that many of the UK’s Simplifying access to the right journey information, including timetables, by international visitors expected international visitors have outdated information, tickets and prices is available in four languages. to increase year on year. perceptions and are unwilling to explore (ideally seamless and translated) will Lisbon uses a system of contactless 4 The number of visits in 2016 the unknown . help to facilitate progress. smartcards to link trains, buses and tram services. Larger hotels in grew by 6% to 39.1m, responsible Across Britain’s mature inbound markets, The Final Mile looks at some practical 40% think a good public transport system and workable solutions used to address Amsterdam have display screens for a 7% increase in spend of contributes significantly to a destination the challenge of keeping inbound tourists showing live departure times and £25.4bn. The number of visitor being great5. informed and feeling confident about platform numbers at the city’s main their choices. railway station. nights spent in the UK also However, many struggle with understanding the distances involved to the time required, increased by 6% in 2016 to 300m. believing it takes over nine hours to travel by www.visitbritain.org/2016-snapshot 3. https://www.visitbritain.org/visitor-economy-facts 4. Trains, the gateway to beyond London? report for Visit England 2016 5.Trains, the gateway to beyond London? report for Visit England 2016 6 Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines 7 Travellers from overseas represent a significant growth opportunity. As regional airports attract more flights, (Manchester welcomed 2.2m inbound visitors in 2016) there are opportunities to encourage greater use of connecting railway services and the wider train network to reach chosen destinations. For many of the UK’s core inbound markets, travel by train is part of their daily routine. Train Operating Companies Virgin Trains Ways to bridge the Final Mile: • review the ease of access around stations Take a train into any major hub • strategic priorities should recognise and for people with suitcases and clearly BritRail Passes and M-ticketing or airport station and the volume account for the significant growth potential identify the left luggage facilities 6 where provided; BritRail Passes have existed since the of suitcases and backpacks is offered by overseas visitors (See GWR case 1960s, providing easy and cost-effective quickly evident. Overseas visitors study p.8); • review directional signage around rail travel for a single fixed price. They bring luggage so adequate • work with major attractions along your routes stations and onboard so that facilities enable international visitors the flexibility storage solutions are needed. to jointly address opportunities for seamless such as information, catering and to travel across Britain, using unlimited ticket offers (See West Somerset Railway case toilets are simple to follow and find; trips on a travel day. A choice of seven study p.22 and GWR case study p.8); different passes is available; one covers the To encourage travel around Britain using • increase onboard luggage capacity where whole of Britain while others cover specific the rail network, try to simplify terminology, • translate simple information announcements possible and ensure new carriages have geographic regions. They are only available review wayfinding at stations and form and brochures into the most common sufficient provision – this assists all to international visitors and cannot be partnerships designed to minimise the number languages used by your passengers passengers, not just those with luggage; purchased in Britain. of transactions visitors must make. (see London Marylebone and Bicester Village • include country of origin in your feedback case study p.10); questionnaires for deeper analysis; As part of a Discover England Fund project, the BritRail England M-Pass covering • simplify language used in announcements – • tailor questionnaires for overseas tourists; stations in England has been launched in overseas visitors will not understand terms their needs are very different April 2017. This will change the paper ticket such as ‘alight here’; to those of domestic customers. to a smartphone or tablet QR code and will • allocating Global Distribution System (GDS) improve the overall user experience. codes to train stations so overseas customers can book rail via airlines; 6. http://www.britrail.com/ 8 Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines Final Mile - Best Practice Guidelines 9 Case study Mind the Gap saving e.g. Singapore to Swansea tickets GWR operates passenger rail services consisting of flight and two rail journeys Great Western Railway (GWR) (Heathrow Express to Paddington and between London and tourism hotspots in – pioneering customer-friendly through-ticketing solution South West England, South Wales and The Paddington to Swansea). Cotswolds. The company recognised the business opportunity of offering through- GWR started offering through-tickets in ticketing, where travellers purchase one 2013 and currently works with six airline ticket for a complete journey that passes partners: British Airways, Avianca, Cathay through a number of different transport Pacific, Royal Brunei, Oman Air, and networks. Through-ticketing is standard Singapore Airlines. practice worldwide, especially within Europe, and is perfectly suited to both Through-ticketing now offers passengers leisure and business travellers. better choice and easier connectivity beyond London into the regions. With GWR saw the potential to make train GWR train services entered on the GDS services from London available as ‘airline system, any airline can use them, though add-ons’ to flights arriving and departing some are more proactive than others. from Heathrow Airport. The through- Train seats go on sale at the same time as tickets needed to include travel on the airline seats, up to 11 months ahead. Heathrow Express, which directly links Heathrow to London Paddington station, Success for GWR will be measured and GWR’s train services. through expansion in the network of airlines using through-ticketing, leading Bridging the Final Mile to increased sales. The service is already showing steady growth through airline GWR acquired an airline Global promotion. Meanwhile, the original Distribution System (GDS) code to through-ticketing partnership with enable reservation agents to book and Heathrow Express and Singapore Airlines issue tickets
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