New Coach Friendly Visitor Attractions
Woburn Abbey and Gardens, West Midlands Safari and Leisure Park and Sabrina Boats (Shrewsbury) are the first to achieve CPT’s new Coach Friendly Visitor Attraction status. The industry standard is designed to recognise and reward tourist attractions that go the extra mile to provide a warm welcome to groups arriving by coach. The status is an extension of the longstanding Coach Friendly Towns, Cities and Villages scheme.
To achieve Coach Friendly Visitor Attractions status, attractions must have: exceptional coach, driver and passenger facilities; dedicated information for coach tours on an easy to use website; clear directional instructions and signs for visiting coaches and their parties; evidence the attraction welcomes coach groups and liaises with local bodies on issues relating to coaches; dedicated and adequate coach parking; facilities for group comfort and facilities for disabled visitors.
CPT’s Alf Scrimgour said, ‘CPT is delighted to add visitor attractions to its extremely popular and well respected Coach Friendly status. This new status provides the ideal platform for the coach industry to showcase visitor attractions across the UK that do their utmost to welcome and provide a comfortable and enjoyable trip for coach groups and parties. It has also been designed to help raise levels of awareness and standards across the coach tourism industry for the benefit of coach operators, passengers and the attractions themselves. Attractions put forward or self-nominating for the status are assessed on a strict judging criteria by CPT officers. The status remains valid for three years after which the attraction coach friendly offering will be reviewed.’