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SUW Marketing Plan Survey 2009 - Results

The following survey was carried out by Tourism Doctor during 2009 in response to the concerns of many service providers along the SUW in terms of the results achieved from the funding made available to market the route more effectively.

Despite during the recession many people chose to holiday in the UK in 2009 we have unfortunately not seen any significant increase in visitor numbers on the SUW, it is obvious that a major opportunity has been missed to, once again, raise the profile of Scotland Coast to Coast.

As always Tourism Doctor, as a private business that also depends on walker revenue, would be pleased to engage with other business and the relevant organisations to see how we may collectively address the issues surrounding the future of the SUW.

Please feel free to contact us with any comments, feedback or ideas: Contact Us

Poll Summary
1) Are you aware that European Funding was granted for an amount of £136,000 for an 18 month marketing project between 2006 and 2008 for the Southern Upland Way?
Yes	15	38.46%
No	24	61.54%
2) Are you aware that a project manager was employed for this 18 month period?
Yes	13	33.33%
No	26	66.67%
3) Did you receive any communication from the project manager relating to the SUW?
Yes	6	15.38%
No	33	84.62%
4) Are you aware of how this money was spent?
Yes	3	7.69%
No	36	92.31%
5) Are you aware of any improvements that were made as a result of this project?
Yes	3	7.69%
No	36	92.31%
6) Did you receive any literature or point of sale materials that assisted you in promoting the SUW, as a result of this project?
Yes	4	10.26%
No	35	89.74%
7) Did you receive any information regarding how successful the project was or what it achieved?
Yes	4	10.26%
No	35	89.74%
8) If contacted by the project manager, were you ever asked to give any input into the project in terms of information relating to walkers that may have stayed with you?
Yes	1	2.56%
No	5	12.82%
I was never contacted	33	84.62%
9) Do you think this project has made a difference to the number of people on the SUW?
Yes	4	10.26%
No	35	89.74%
10) Are you aware that this project was overseen by Dumfries and Galloway Council?
Yes	6	15.38%
No	33	84.62%
11) Have you ever seen any additional marketing material or advertisements as a result of the project?
Yes	5	12.82%
No	34	87.18%
12) The project was hailed as a great success, would you agree with this?
Yes	3	7.69%
No	36	92.31%

Supporting Comments made by Respondants

There is far too little information available on the SUW in general. It is a major walk it should be promoted as such. The 7stanes receive massive publicity, this should also happen for the SUW.

In fairness, we are a few miles away from the SUW though we do mention it in our web literature in the hope it might appeal to cottage visitors. I regret my replies are all so negative. Also, following years of disappointment, I do not subscribe to the local Tourist Board - which may not exist anyway?

I''m not clear who the target market for this activity is - local people who might do short walks (nil economic impact), visitors who might do a short walk as part of their holiday (in which case the money should be spent as part of a Visit Scotland campaign to feature the Borders, were VS interested in promoting the Borders which at best seems doubtful), or to long distance path walkers, or seasoned walkers who might be inspired to walk the SUW. If this is the case, then there are selected media which reach them (TGO and Trail magazines, LFTO website etc.) and local radio in the region is not it! If we are serious about promoting the SUW then it needs a highly targetted approach, not a scattergun of doing lots of stuff, with little impact on fact.

The only communication we ever received from the marketing manager was a plastic box type calendar for, I think, 2007. The previous routine communication from the ranger about the accommodation list was more useful.

I know nothing of this grant. I would like to discuss some improvements I think would help to bring more people to the SUW.

Very disappointing the last 3 years. so confused as to who is running the Way. Southern Upland Way had an order form which asked the walkers if they wanted hotel or B&B accommodation. Most said hotel accommodation and the B&B houses were left out in the cold even after paying for inclusion onto the website. What angered me most was that many of the hotels are actually pubs and have poor accommodation compared to many of the B&Bs who are members of Visit Scotland and provide very high standard accommodation. It is extremely embarrasing when people ask what the next accommodation is like when we know people have left two local accommodation providers because of the abysmal standards. There needs to be standards on the Southern Upland Way.

Accommodation providers such as ourselves are often the only contact the walkers have so there should be some system in place for them to be able to leave comments/complaints with us about a particular section of the walk that can be forwarded to the ranger. Contact with the project manager at some point would have been very useful. A big poster and lots of leaflets would be very nice too !!

Have had no information re this project, therefore find it difficult to comment. This has been my first year doing B&B and my walkers are booked in the main through an Edinburgh company, a few independant bookings for singles. I did e-mail you at the star of the year re subscriptions due and an idea for walks at this end of the Southern Upland Way, but heard nothing.

Basically we did not know anything about this.Answers to 9 and 12 is don''t know. Although we just took over the business in April we have seen no information or literature regarding this project. There may have been some information issued during the period but it was of little impact to be worthy of remembering. Consequently, I have to conclude that nothing of value was received that promoted the SUW. Maintenance of the route leaves a lot to be desired, re signs and underfoot conditions. As reported by walkers themselves.

I received a letter as a result of an enquiry I made as per our earlier discussion on this matter and forwarded a copy to yourself. I thought the letter was basically a load of patronising rubbish.

If we are talking about Tabitha Mudulia being the project manager, she did a lot of damage to our business through her incompetence, which I complained about at the time, but basically got fobbed off by other Council Officers. The walkers who visit us often complain about the quality of the route and the lack of sensibly placed resting points. The SUW is not a leisurely walk like the West Highland Way, it''s only really for serious walkers. If the SUW is to attract more visitors there needs to be rest / food points at least every 10 miles, better public transport access and someone for full time promote / improve the way like the work Andrew Case does unpaid! Whoever decided to give Tabitha the job needs shot. Everyone who does the complete SUW has to walk past our front door, can''t say I see many folk!

Have been arguing with the Forestry commission about their policy of allowing buildings to fall down when there is a crying need for bunkhouses to support the SUW- only a negative response.

I run a small B&B which backs onto the SUW and had hoped that we would benefit from our position but we have had a poor season so far in respect of walkers. It seems an awful lot of money to have been spent with no discernable benefit to businesses on the route. I for one would be very interested to hear from the people responsible for the SUW exactly how this money, which comes from my taxes, was spent and why so little has been achieved.

Have seen absolutely no additional information/marketing in respect of the SUW. Where was it? Project manager certainly kept very low profile - was there such a person? Scotlands longest walk has been and is still being neglected with only a few local people trying to make a difference. What a waste of funding - no difference whatsoever from this venture.

The only thing i can say is that when contacting d/g about my addresses ect.I got a reply that did not attend to my request, if you look on their site you will see that my email is wrong , my address is wrong, so how have they contacted me?

My involvement was as chair of newton Stewart walking festival. We were included in a SUW composite advert along with upper Nithdale and Moffat walking festivals in Walk in Scotland in either 2007 or 2006.That was a useful inititiave and the SUW website was attractive but I have no data re its effectiveness. the accurate answer to 9 and 12 would be ''don''t know'' but that is not an option in your survey.

It is possible that some contact was made but I don''t remember. I think the waymarking on the route from Dalry to Sanquar and vice versa need to be better - I have had only two B&Bs this year and both have lost their way. In the earlier years we would have at least 60+ visitors. I know many split the section and stay in Dalry two nights which is fine by me so I don''t really know how many walkers there are this year. We have two bookings from Make Tracks later in the year.

As a self caterer in the Tweed Valley, I use SUW leaflets available in local tourist office but I certainly don''t see enough about SUW to believe it is being promoted well enough. Tourist accommodation providers if given ideas of customer profile could assist by targeting these people.

There is evidence that there are more people using sections of the SUW. The trail is more owrn than in previous years, although I don''t sense there has been a huge influx of walkers.

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