Project aims
Our aims were to support Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership (GCRP) to promote rail travel in Gloucestershire (UK), to showcase the potential impact and role of community rail partnerships for tourism and to build the case for sustainable transport and active travel.
The work consisted of two related projects; Taste for Travel and The Great Rail Experience.
About the two projects
Taste for Travel encouraged communities and visitors to discover the county using sustainable modes of transport through the development of a series of bookable trails involving rail, local experiences and businesses and one long distance trail. The project also identified best practice models around rail within the leisure sector and partnership working, to feed into the work of the Great Rail Experience (see below), so that these rail experiences could be scaled up and replicated across the country.
The wider Great Rail Experience project stimulated joint working between Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) and Train Operating Companies (TOCs) through effective activity plans dedicated to sustainable transport. This work also fed into Visit Gloucestershire’s Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism climate action plan, stimulating rail activities and presenting case studies and evidence for rail as part of the leisure experience.
Activities
We provided GCRP with support for both pieces of work by:-
- Identifying global case studies and good practice examples
- Developing a methodology, framework and tools to engage with and gather data from stakeholders, and monitor and evaluate impacts
- Being a ‘critical friend’ by providing support for building the case for sustainable transport and active travel within the tourism sector; developing the Gloucestershire rail ‘case study’ as a model within the Tourism Declares network, and building the blueprint model for scaling up opportunities to work in partnership with DMOs
We also worked with GCRP to create a toolkit to support community rail partnerships, train operators and destinations across the UK to work collaboratively on common challenges, capitalise on shared opportunities and harness the potential of sustainable travel to meet net zero goals and further enhance the visitor experience. The toolkit ‘Connecting Climate, Community & the Visitor Economy’ features tips, case studies and ideas for action and has been designed to highlight the opportunities for better, more climate-friendly travel within the ‘rail for leisure’ market. The toolkit also aims to help bring together DMOs, TOCs and CRPs to realise the potential for rail, other public transport and active travel options in relation to tourism.
With joint working between the DMO, TOC and CRP embedded in Gloucestershire, this case study is a best practice example of how new forms of collaboration can lead to mutual benefit, and different stakeholders can come together to create solutions. Both projects helped support national sustainability and net zero agendas as well as economic recovery of local and national tourism.
You can watch recordings of the launch webinars here: Webinar for UK destinations, Webinar for Community Rail Partnerships
You can download the toolkit from the Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership website here.
The toolkit and webinars are part of a funded project sponsored by Great Western Railway and Cross Country Trains.
“Launching the Destination and Community Rail toolkit is an important milestone for us. A huge thanks to the numerous partners and stakeholders it was carefully designed with. We hope it stimulates successful joint working and a necessary shift towards sustainable transport being central to planning in the tourism and leisure sector.”
Hannah McDonnell, GCRP Executive Director
“This toolkit is a first step to unlocking the many opportunities for leisure travel, helping to strengthen local economies and achieve sustainability goals. It also highlights new models for collaboration that can support community rail partnerships and destinations to enhance value for customers, as well as connecting visitors to different parts of the destination.”
Rebecca Armstrong, Head of Impact, the Travel Foundation
