Every
destination has its day - or does it?
Cadbury’s Aztec, Fry’s Chocolate Sandwich, Mars Toffee
Treets… Remember any of them? And what on earth do these
confectionary brands from my childhood have in common with places
such as New Brighton or Frieston Shore?
It could be
said that both these chocolate brands and the holiday resorts
have ‘had their day’. They were designed for
consumers who have since moved on. One of the first things I ever
learnt in marketing was the concept of the product life cycle and
the fact that this applied to destination marketing just as well
as to consumer durables. However, whilst food manufacturers can
tweak changes to the composition of a confectionary bar and wrap
it in a new skin, the process of re-branding and changing perceived
images of a destination is much more complex.
Before I go any further, I apologise to any destination marketers
in Wirral because I know that New Brighton is now re-inventing
itself and is no longer a lost cause.
The same cannot
be said for Frieston Shore, (on my old patch of Boston in Lincolnshire).
It has been less successful, particularly
as the coastline has since retreated and the tiny ‘resort’ now
sits in the middle of an arable landmass!
However, New
Brighton does serve as an interesting example of seaside resort
decline and rejuvenation. It was particularly pertinent
to me as it was my birthplace and I remember it as a still thriving
resort when I was very young. Yet during the 1960’s and ‘70’s
my entire extended family, most of whom were involved in the tourist
industry in some way, as hoteliers or hotel suppliers, migrated
south to resorts such as Newquay, Torquay and Bournemouth. Return
visits through the subsequent decades could be quite distressing
in terms of the scale of degeneration and the fact that there were
simply no more tourists.
The slow decline
of British seaside resorts is well documented and has been the
subject of numerous academic studies and subsequent
government intervention. It has been common to all British regions,
not just the northwest. Whilst the blame usually centres on the
explosion of the package holiday market in the 1970’s and
the outward migration of the UK tourist to European beaches, there
were many resorts that suffered market failure much earlier, primarily
as a result of private car ownership and the added choice and flexibility
it could offer British residents.
New Brighton’s heyday was probably in the Edwardian period.
It was both a holiday resort with extensive visitor accommodation
and a destination for day-trippers. Visitors travelled by rail
to Liverpool, took a ferry from the Pier Head and disembarked at
Wallasey and New Brighton for a day on the beach. New Brighton
boasted some superlatives in its time. The Tower, located near
the seafront, was the tallest in Britain and at 621ft was actually
103ft higher than Blackpool’s. It was built in 1898 but only
survived until 1921 when it was demolished due to structural decay
following World War 1.
However the
Tower Ballrooms and entertainment complex survived until 1969.
New Brighton also hosted one of the largest open-air
swimming pools in the country, a magnificent marine promenade and
until the 1960’s, featured a miniature steam railway and
permanent fairground.
Photographs of New Brighton between the wars continue to show
crowded promenades, theatres that could attract top of the bill
performers, circuses, fairs and a pier packed to capacity with
day-trippers.
Guest Houses
were fully booked throughout the season. The beaches were as
crowded as those of modern day Florida and this continued
even until the mid 1960’s although by this time the fading
image had now become noticeable.
Gradually, the hotels and bed and breakfast establishments closed
or changed use until there were hardly any left. The whole tourism
infrastructure began to disintegrate and the spiral of decay accelerated.
New Brighton’s decline from the 1970’s
onwards reflected the general problems of neighbouring Liverpool
and Birkenhead with
high rates of unemployment, an exodus of employers and industry,
the deterioration of the physical fabric of the resort and a complete
loss of business confidence.
In contrast, my adopted hometown of Bournemouth offered quite
a different scenario during this same period. Bournemouth had some
inherent advantages over New Brighton so it is not exactly a fair
comparison but the town has been able to maintain its status as
one of the key British resorts and remains so to this day.
The dice were
loaded in Bournemouth’s favour in several
ways: unlike New Brighton, it was not a satellite to a larger city
and was not bordered by industrial areas; it enjoyed a warmer climate
with very mild winters; it had better natural resources including
miles of south facing sandy beaches; the tourism product in terms
of hotels, parks and attractions was better developed and much
larger.
Another key factor was the point that Bournemouth had established
itself with a reputation for quality and could attract a wider
range of visitors from families on a budget to the internationally
select who were seeking five-star luxury.
At the same time, Bournemouth still had to tackle the common problems
facing all seaside destinations. The traditional summer holiday
was being replaced by shorter visitor stays. The demand for serviced
accommodation was reducing. It suffered the pressures of an ageing
population and related demand for changes of use from hotels to
rest homes. For many years the Council was indecisive in terms
of destination planning issues- a debate about a local marina floated
around for at least three decades- and big capital projects always
took years of debate and argument.
Several factors helped rescue the town from the downward slope
that faced some of its competitors. It had begun to diversify from
the traditional market. For example, a flourishing language school
sector had extended the number of overseas visitors staying with
local families, providing much-needed secondary spending and employment
opportunities, especially in the off-peak and shoulder seasons.
After many delays, the town finally agreed to build a conference
centre that could compete with Blackpool and Brighton for both
conference and exhibition delegates.
The Council continued to invest in tourism infrastructure such
as rebuilding the pier and whilst many facilities were already
owned in-house it began to contract out areas such as bars, beach
services and catering.
In the meantime,
the quality image of the location helped secure wider inward
investment with the town attracting many new tertiary
industries, particularly insurance and financial service companies,
thus relieving the pressure of having a single-industry employer.
The upgrading of the higher education establishment to a university
and a big influx of students has also helped rid Bournemouth of
it’s image of ‘God’s Waiting Room’ so that
the town feels more youthful and establishments catering for younger
people can be sustained all year round.
The conference
centre no doubt saved many large and medium-sized hotels from
closure and has resulted in greater off-peak usage
of accommodation. Whilst there has been some homogenisation of
hotel stock gravitating both upward and downward to middle-range
three-star, the accommodation offer still remains varied providing
a wide choice to business and leisure users. Together with a well-managed
summer programme of events, much of it family orientated, and an
acceptance that many visitors are using the resort as a secondary
holiday destination, Bournemouth has been able to redevelop it’s
image without having to completely re-draft its tourism product.
The town’s greatest assets, its town centre parks and beaches,
remain the key driver of the brand image. So, not simply a case
of ‘Marathon’ changing to ‘Snickers’ but
(to continue the food analogy) more Big Mac Meal to McChicken Salad.
So what now
for New Brighton, or Clevedon or Weston-Super-Mare? It seems
that in most cases the brand has been on the verge of
being pulled off our shelves but thankfully it hasn’t died
completely and there are signs of recovery. The market share has
certainly fallen and it is unlikely, except for two or three ‘super
league’ resorts, that there will ever be any return to the
volume markets of the pre-1970’s. The product has been trimmed
down, is having to settle for niche markets, is seeking greater
diversification and is having to appeal to more local audiences
(and residents) for day visits.
Lots of tourism
destination marketers are now based in very unorthodox locations:
northern industrial towns or obscure rural districts
that have very little tourism ‘product’. Whilst these
new destinations offer further competition for the domestic visitor,
they also prove that with some investment from the public purse,
good destination management can support a thriving tourism sector
in most places in Britain. Our Victorian resorts offer a huge resource
that is often overlooked. Many may be scruffy and down at heal
but the basic elements that initially made them attractive places
to visit are still there. Whilst nobody should underestimate the
scale of the work needed to bring some of them back up to scratch
there are countless examples of good practice where the turn around
has already begun. However, it can’t be done by either the
private or pubic sectors alone. New Brighton has revamped the marine
promenade, new tourism attractions and businesses are starting
to pop up throughout the Wirral peninsula and there are ambitious
plans for longer-term development to match Liverpool’s City
of Culture events. Even now, it is starting to feel fresh, and
attractive.
Who knows? ‘What goes around comes around’ and
maybe one day we will even see the return of Aztec bars?
Phil Evans
Tourism Manager
Greater London Authority
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