Maximizing tourism potential

Current issues Maximizingtourism potential Atale of four cities Charles Owen

When

Methods by which towns can attract more visitors need not be dramatic or expensive. Charles Owen, Principal of the Tourism by Design Consultancy, analyses the success of four European cities as tourist resorts and concludes that making the most of what you already have may be the best way to attract more visitors. Charles Owen is Principal of the Tourism by Design Consultancy and an established travel writer. He may be contacted at 25 Montagu Street, London Wl H 1TB, UK.

more

a town

ditional the

or resort

visitors

character

place,

and

inhabitants, eration. stock

the

This

of existing

Improvements ties will prove

shops,

all in neat and cheer-

its

ful

to the prevailing

facili-

while

original the

inexpensive

way

Ziirich’s

ticket

remain-

to new

necessity.

and

stop,

is owed

with

restaurants

a city shops,

but otherwise,

on the face of it, a quite

ordinary

kind

of place.

Bahnhoj3rrusse - what could

be more

prosaic

and practical

than

call the high street of an important Station

Road?

facilities,

the

and the lake, ‘With just over two million overnight visitors in 1988, Zurich beat Geneva by a short head. Source: Swiss National Tourist Office, London, UK.

272

force, tourist

Yet

connecting

this

two rail

quiet

(and

air)

is the heart,

of Switzerland’s

to city key

terminus

the very

life

most successful

destination.’

Almost

everything

on this street

or visible

that from

matters

the itself,

traffic-

- meeting

available

Ziirich’s

relax

and

no

well-presented

attraction

And

that

with driv-

at ev-

as well

as

success? This to its ability

and

amuse

to

its visi-

them so much part of the no matter

become

they

how

numerous

seldom

seem

the local ambiance

qualities,

mostly

low

sumably

attract

visitors

key,

which in

to

- those the

prefirst

place.

Dieppe France, in a less sophisticated and smaller-scale way, invites comparison. Here is a lively, rumbustuous place - seaport, fishing port, ferry port, as well as seaside resort catering mainly for the short-stay and stopover trade. Its broad and generally tranquil sea front, framed by castle and har-

Dieppe,

boule-

of Ziirich’s

they

and

undoubtedly

overwhelm

and commer-

above-average

and hotels

is largely

being

are

and

scene

cial centre

vard

maps

tors, making

as a financial

street

to passengers

machines

ery

Ziirich well known

pedes-

it from

fast, silent trams,

conductor,

raisons JP-

Switzerland,

inviting

to the lakeside

er inaccessible

from

measures.

Ziirich,

hotels,

into

the trams,

almost

absorb

Consider

student

place as well as thoroughfare.

csses, may

have become

tourists,

to their

free,

An leads

river, leading

and the tree-lined

apart from

effect.

towns which

subway

station

deciding

Examples

juxtaposition.

trian

careful

assets and

tres, may point often

principal

these to better

with

ing true

of

taking

to be enough.

successful

of

of life

well-being

help and, in many

comparable

most

be the first consid-

involves

how to present

district,

cafCs,

of the tra-

and way

should

it - the banking quarter,

sets out to gain

enhancement

is

it or near

TOURISM

MANAGEMENT

December

1989

Current issues

bour entrance. is the better for curbs on development which would be out of keeping with the modest style and scale of the terrace of buildings, now mostly hotels and flats, facing across the greensward to the sea. In the bustling main street, Grande Rue, just behind these buildings, similar curbs have maintained the character provided by its traditional low-rise buildings with their balanced array of small shops and cafes at pavement level. On Saturdays this largely pedestrianized street and an adjoining square offer the most enjoyable street market in northern France. This market, the casino, the ever-busy port, the unpretentious but skilfully marketed hotels and restaurants and, perhaps above all, the way everyday life in an energetic working town adds pace and purpose to a distinctly French ambiance, are among the attractions which make Dieppe such a popular year-round tourist destination.2

Scheveningen

‘Dieppe claims half a million arrivals and 70% occupancy in 1988. Source: Office de Tour&me, Dieppe, France. “In 1988, there were 700 000 overnight visitors to The including Hague Scheveningen (and Kijduin) while Scheveningen alone claimed nine million day visitors. Source: VVV Den Haag/ ScheveningeWKijduin, The Hague, Netherlands. 4Edinburgh attracts about two and a quarter million overnight visitors a year. Source: City of Edinburgh, Department of Public Relations and Tourism, Scotland.

TOURISM

MANAGEMENT

Scheveningen. Netherlands, a residential suburb of The Hague, is also itself Holland’s leading seaside resort.’ Largely rebuilt since the second world war and mainly in unlovely and sometimes high-rise concrete, Scheveningen is saved from mediocrity by its new, mainly under-cover mix of leisure, shopping and entertainment centred on the magnificent old Kurhaus (pump room), now a sumptuous fivestar hotel. The vast lounge of this hotel with its open-to-view catering and palm court orchestra is both rendezvous and promenade, inviting a steady stream of visitors to wander through to the flanking amenities, all with their sea views. These comprise casino, restaurants, high-windowed leisure pool, shopping mall, and a food court complete, even on Sunday mornings, with live dance band. And just below these attractions, is the broad sweep of beach-side esplanade with appetizing waiterserved food and drink in part openair, part weather-proofed enclosures, all at popular prices, to standards of design and service which even today seem to elude the equivalent cafeterias in most British seaside re-

December

1989

sorts. Despite its largely forbidding architecture and its bleak setting beside the cold North Sea. Scheveningen in blending old and new. has created a remarkable chemistry of success in its own right but with the bonus of all the amenities of The Hague, capital city of Holland, a short tram-ride across the park.

Edinburgh And so to Edinburgh, Scotland, after London Britain’s most successful tourist destination, a capital city of dramatic beauty which although (or perhaps because) marketed overtly to a fairly urbane type of visitor, with the welltravelled American as a norm, appeals to everyone, the castle alone attracting just short of one million paying visitors a year.J And what is Edinburgh’s version of Ziirich’s Bahnhofsrrsse? A level street of similar length connecting the former LNER and LMS rail termini with their adjoining North British and Caledonian hotels and here named, not Station Road as well it could be, but reflecting Britain’s more ruritanian values, Princes Street. And in itself, apart from its generous breadth, what an ordinary street it is - everyday shops and stores down one side and, for the most part, just a modest stretch of sunken gardens on the other. What makes Princes Street one of the world’s best-known promenades is, of course, its central location in a cosmopolitan city and its wonderful setting - the gregarious medieval quarter on its soaring heights to the south and the dignified Georgian quarter close by to the north, a vista of generally splendid and occasionally magnificent buildings, plenty of streetside vitality, lacking only the weatherproof and in summer open-air caf& which add that extra flavour to continental cities, and the sense that throughout history, much more has been going on hereabouts than merely giving pleasure to tourists.

Secret of success In these four examples, from the visitor’s point of view, what are the common factors of success and, for other

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Current issues

and resorts, what may be learned?s Each of these places presents itself well to the visitor, meeting if not exceeding his or her expectation - from point of arrival to lodging or other objective. the signing, transport facilities, traffic management and tourist information are well managed and encouraging, while personal services at every level seem professional and welcoming. In addition all four places have a well-defined, inviting and well established hub or focus - Bahnhofstrasse, Grande Rue, the Kurhaus with its and closely adjoining amenities, Princes Street. Each of these provides a convenient and adequately spacious venue for promenade and rendezvous, with road traffic largely separated from pedestrians and enough going on to give pleasure or excitement even when the shops are closed. And each of these venues is at the living heart of a thriving community well able to absorb its visitors into a way of life that has raisorts d’hres other than tourism.6 Famous foci in other places include (and no prize is offered for naming their whereabouts) St Marks Square, Grand Place, La Croisette, Constitution Square, Copacabana, Red Square, Rembrandt Plein, Tivoli Gardens, Covent Garden, The Hoe, Las Ramblas. Less widely known but of interest are the quaysides at St Tropez, Bristol and Baltimore, Valletta’s main street, the main cathedral squares of Kijln, Salamanca and Siena, and pedestrianized streets such towns

‘Numerous resorts . . can produce these facilities by improving what they have’

.

‘The author’s observations in these four cases are based on personal on-the-spot investigations during visits of several days. ‘For this to be wholly true of Scheveningen, this resort has to be seen as a principal district of The Hague.

274

as those Munich

in Bath, in and,

Cardiff,

Lyon,

harness with Scheveningen, the central district of The Hague. Also with a part to play or limitedare more peripheral purpose rendezvous such as Grand

TOURISM

Central, Rockefeller Plaza, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Raffles. And the lesson? Numerous other towns and resorts. hiding equivalent lights under a bushel, can produce one or more of these facilities by improving what they have, often largely through traffic management giving more priority to pedestrians. Otherwise, apart from some inexpensive amenities such as shelter from the elements and more street-side shops and catering, little more than cosmetic treatment is required. And any natural landmark may qualify, whether square, precinct, promenade, port, station or, more simply, arcade, vantage point, hotel or cafe. In Britain, wielding a pin almost at random, among the many potentially rewarding candidates are - Torquay’s and Folkestone’s ports, Liverpool’s Pierhead, the inshore end of Southend’s pier, Scarborough’s St Nicholas Cliff, Portsmouth’s Hard, Southampton’s Above Bar Street, the sec-

tion of garden between New Road and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and, greatest missed opportunity of them all, London’s Trafalgar Square. If Zurich, Dieppe, Scheveningen and Edinburgh can do it then surely there is hope for any town or city prepared to make an effort. Clearly, in this context there need be no call for radical public-funded provision just for the pleasure of visitors. A quite modest or limited but welldesigned improvement may suffice, at least for a start. If the initial measure is potentially good for business, it could well be financed in whole or part by traders who stand to gain. And whatever its form, the inhabitants, in their everyday life, must feel that it brings credit and added value to their town.

MANAGEMENT

December

1989