Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
DDC info..
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WELCOME TO WHITE CLIFFS COUNTRY
Welcome to White Cliffs Country - from the towns of Dover, Deal and Sandwich, and the rural areas, to our world famous coastline and heritage. That's the message in an exciting new multi-media tourism campaign for White Cliffs Country 2010, which is launched at the Dover Sea Sports Centre today (18 March).
The annually produced Visitor Guide has been redesigned and fully updated, with latest information and photography showcasing the district. The guide is packed with information on great days out and places to stay in White Cliffs Country.
For the first time this year, the guide includes individual town coverage, and two new days out leaflets have been produced in French & Flemish and German & Italian. The French & Flemish leaflets have been distributed to coastal Visitor Information Centres in the pas de Calais region and in coastal Belgium, and the German & Italian leaflets have been produced more specifically for the high volume of German and Italian cruise passengers. Both language leaflets will also be available from VICs in Dover District.
Dover District Council also continues to produce the popular Accommodation and Days Out leaflets, as part of a major marketing campaign, coordinated with a national media and targeted direct mail campaign.
Cllr Frederick Scales, DDC Cabinet Member for Economy and Special Projects, said: "We are delighted to work with our partners to launch this exciting new campaign. Tourism plays an important part in the local economy, and generates in the region of £200 million and supports around 4,000 jobs for the district. This campaign shows the effective partnership working between the Council and the industry, working together to promote White Cliffs Country as a great place to visit."
Full information on the area can be found at
www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk or for a copy of the new brochure, please call (01271) 336205 or e-mail
dover@responseuk.co.uk or pop into your local Visitor Information Centre.
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Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I went to that yesterday; I must say they have got more technology working for Tourism now, than every before.
Two new small leaflets promote the district and much more support for attractions - still a separation on tourism sites and local businesses though.
Roger
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
We would have gone to that Roger but they didnt tell us it was on..if they cant even get their message out in Dover well.... I dunno. Could have given that frontpage picture coverage as we have carried much tourism stuff in the past with a lot of viewers.
But from a tourism point of view I hope it works. One of the biggest revenue earners these days is tourism and Dover could certainly use an influx.. But I wasnt there so I dont know what was said, but they would need to start with the loss of tapable income from the Cruise Liners. I have some stats here..hold on...yes here we are..
details from a recent Cruise Liner visit from 'a reliable source'
2200 passengers onboard
36 coaches came to pick them up
32 coaches went to London and thereabouts
4 coaches went to Canterbury
0 coaches came to Dover
although to be fair some will have walked into town. But generally at a glance you can see Dover is somewhat bypassed. Just to add...there is also a shuttle bus direct to and from The Castle.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
the question is what has dover got to promote apartfrom the castle,the answer is nothing.unless you count the grade 2 listed pile of ruble bench street,derilict buildings townwall street/st james area and empty decaying empty shops.depressing isnt ,and you wonder why people bugger off to london and canterbury.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
PaulB
There are the crew mostly Filipino's who do come into Dover town spending money at Argos,M&S, mobile phone shops and Chinese restaurants.
A few signs in Tagalog in shop windows wouldn't go astray and would make them feel at home ie...Mabuhay....means Welcome.
I knew of one young enterprising Dover Filipino couple who meet some of the crew on a regular basis to help them with their parcels that they wanted to be sent home,buying sim and phone cards and then giving them a meal at their home .For which they were handsomely rewarded.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
I know where you're coming from, Brian, but have to say that unless we start believing in ourselves nothing will ever get better. I wasn't aware that anything in Bench Street was listed, either. Listing, perhaps!
Perhaps one of those in attendance yesterday could tell me, does DDC actually now have any funds in a tourism budget? One of the biggest problems we seem to have had in recent years is that DDC has had no money to spend on any tourism initiative, and unless that's changed I fail to see how redesigned leaflets are going to help.
True friends stab you in the front.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
andy,the listed bit inbench street is the old crypt bit.as to start beliving in our selfs is for the ddc to start on the ditz programe and at the same time tidy the rest of of the town.as i see it the heart of the town is being slowly ripped out by ill concieved planning and delays.untill it is sorted out dover cant promote itsself.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
why did they not give notice to people of this event?
Guest 684- Registered: 26 Feb 2009
- Posts: 635
I think they like to keep these things to themselves, Howard.
Brian: totally agree with you - the Bench Street/Townwall Street dereliction is an absolute disgrace. What a disgusting vista of the town it is to present to all and sundry.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Thats a very good point there Marek about the crews..thats a market often overlooked. So always good to welcome them as well. Of course the ones with the bigger money would be those on the 'other side of the tracks' ie the big buck passengers. But it must be remembered these are people whose last stop was probably Venice or Monte Carlo so as a consequence are likely to be a tad disenchanted with Bench St....as the other guys have said.
Although you do get a smattering of tourists around town most are I would imagine just whisked through to the castle. You have to remember too that these passengers will already have been briefed before they leave the ship. There will probably have been a red cross against Bench St for fear that they might wander off to the right and see the dreadful frontage of...the carpark from hell ! You have to say the last bit there with a deep and growling american accent.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
We've discussed this at length on many occasions; there is a bus, in fact four buses owned by Dave Atkins, that brings cruise pasengers into the Town - to Market Square, then up to the Castle, back to the Cruise terminal and MS and so on all morning and early afternoon
Dave offers tickets to Dover Castle; people can stay at Dover Castle all day, especially with the fantastic new tower; by buying a ticket on Dave's bus (great for Dave as he gets a commission, plus his bus fare), means that very few actually come in to Town, so the Town benefits much less than it could do.
Horace Holyer is in the Market Square with his barrow of information and head full of history and a number of European languages etc. so if any do make it into Dover, he will and does let them know what's going on.
Cruise day-excursions are big business for the cruise companies and they make a fortune out of them, but there is a growing number of independant passengers who want to find out what is in the local area.
The area around Townwall Street and Bench Street, is having a development application worked on, so that is being looked after, but like all things here, takes for ever.
I have pushed section 215 as hard as I can, but cannot get agreement to follow it up because when this is started, DDC have to be prepared to follow it through to the end, which can cost many thousands of pounds, even if the money is paid, it needs to be up front first and that's what DDC don't have - money to pay for it.
Maybe the rates should have gone up to pay for this - would you be happy to pay a few extra pounds on your council tax if it was ring-fenced for doing up these buildings ?
We have more historic sites and attractions in our Town and District than any other coastal town, from say Southend to Southampton (and probably further afield too), so we have lots to offer, but we/I need to work on smartening up the Town first.
As DBS Manager, I am working on ways to do this and have been charged with developing an Action Plan that can then apply for some funding. I can't do this alone, that's why I also need to recruit businesses to DBS.
Roger
Roger, couple of points regarding your interesting posting.
Firstly, no, I wouldn't be prepared to pay more council tax unless I had very hard evidence that our MP and County Councillors had done everything in their power to get money from those bodies first. KCC is sitting on buckets of our cash and as I've made clear elsewhere, I find that totally unacceptable. So I say again, NO, to more Council Tax for ANY reason.
Secondly, I think you are wrong to suggest we need to smarted up the town first. If we take that route, nothing will get done. What we need to do first is get the attractions OPEN! If tourism is our lifeblood and way forward, we must have places such as the The Grand Shaft, Dover Museum, Dover Castle, Western Heights, Roman Painted House, St Edmunds Chapel OPEN. Then we can truly market something to the visitor that will bring them to us for business.
Proof of the OPEN concept is Kearsney tea room. Once you'd never know if you could get a cup of tea or coca cola when going to the park, yet, since I've been home and going to Kearsney every other day, the tea room has been OPEN and busy. Maybe if the cafe at the end of the pier had adopted an OPEN policy it would have been profitable too?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
sid
the castle and museum are open all year round as it is.
we have no control over the castle anyway.
the painted house is run by a trust and is opon from spring to autumn.
st edmunds chapel is an active church with a service on saturday mornings.
the western heights are always available to anyone.
the grand shaft can only be run by volunteers, hence open only a few times a year.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Sid, I wasn't saying smarten up the Town to the exclusion of everything else, although that has been the view of the decision-makers todate, so nothing moves forward because no one is trying to smarten up the Town - until now.
As Howard has said, the (larger) historic sites and attractions are open all year round, with the exception of the odd closing day at the Castle, but come Easter - next week-end, the historic places will be open again.
If the National War Memorial on the Heights gets supported, this will bring enormous benefits and increase tourism numbers to Dover, beyond our dreams.
Roger
The point of my posting, obviously missed, is that if we want toursits in the town, then the attractions MUST be open, whoever runs them.
Basically, Dover MUST be open for business, even when the cruise ships arrive on a Sunday.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
sid
with respect i believe that you are missing the point.
the attractions that are controlled by someone are all open easter through to october on sundays.
no point in them being open during the winter, cruise calls are as rare as a poor banker.
First rule of business Howard, you gotta be OPEN to take money, unless you are an internet business.
I went to Samphire Hoe on Thursday and after a walk in the cool sea beezed air (force 3+) fancied a cuppa; along with the 9 other visitors looking for refreshment. The tea place had closed before the published time, so, we couldn't spend our money, not a huge amount but the income from 10 cuppas + extras was lost, and who knows if those folks will bother to return. None of were very happy. As we left, three other vehicles arrived no doubt to be disapponited too.
Sad to say, this sort of behaviour is typical of this place, and it needs to change.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
fully agree sid, however businesses choose when to open at a time to suit themselves.
in dover you can confidently forecast that when big events are on and their are extra people in town, the usual eating places will be closed.
the only place open remotely near the front for last summers big events was the carpathian, they were run off of their feet.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I agree that places must be open to be able to trade and the more places that are open, the better for the tourist/visitor - and the business iself of course.
If all the sites had paid employees, then that would be relatively easy to open throughout the winter, but the small historic sites and attractions: Dover Transport Musuem, Crabble Corn Mill, Roman Painted House (not sure about Samphire Hoe, it may be manned by WCCP who are volunteers) are operated by volunteers.
If Group Travel was organised for Dover - to make it a destination, rather than a "to-it-and-through-it" place, they could all open in the winter, but even after trying many different ways to encourage Group Travel - and these are coach loads of people coming to Dover and our historic sites and attractions - with money to spend, I can't convince those in charge, that this should be looked at seriously.
At one time a few years ago, I contacted all the Hotels in the District about Group Travel and they all agreed to come on board (apart from the Churchill and the Bell Hotel - they felt it was beneath them); I even designed and had printed passes for the coaches, so the drivers didn't have to pay to park in the (DDC-owned) coach-parks - and still it wasn't taken up properly.
There must be something about me that people don't like - maybe it's my enthusiasm for Dover and as they say in many circles "apathy rules in the higher circles" - it certainly has done till now.
Maybe it's that things have to be done at a much higher level than the one I am talking about, but it needs working from the ground floor up, not top down.
I could write a tourism strategy for Dover; in fact I started one for Dover - the Town not the District and was advised strongly to stop it, it'd be a waste of time. It could be incorporated in to this Town Centre Plan of Action I've been charged to write.
I did send it to the Town Clerk, Mike Webb, but that was 2/3 years ago, so it is still lying dormant somewhere.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
two question for roger here.
1) why did someone try to stop you writing a tourism strategy?
2) do you think that the management of the churchill now look back and regret their decision?