Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
BarryW
I did not say the council should fund such a project. In fact I was not criticising the council in any way.
If I was a Chief Exec of a leisure company I would look at the demographics and catchments of Dover in a positive way to bring to Dover a venture that would be of benefit to its people and be profitable and I should be encouraged by the people of Dover to do this, not discouraged and told to go to Canterbury.
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Gary - that is the point, the demographics of Dover do not support such a project financially. No-one is telling such companies to go to Canterbury, their own research is pointing that way. Hard headed business decisions determine this.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
What seems never to be taken into account, is the fact that we are a unique Town, in that we have 14/15 or so million people coming to Dover for a ferry, during the course of a year.
We also have 150,000 or so people calling at Dover who are on, or going on, a cruise.
If they were all taken into account and added into the equation, then we would/should be able to have these facilities.
The more facilities we have here, the more people we can encourage to come here (for the day, overnight or short-break, or even before their cruise); telling them what we have, will show them that we are so much more than a "to-it-and-thru-it" Town.
Roger
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
Oh dear this is going to sound lioke a disagreements but cant just say nowt so here we go
BARRYW
Yep know all about business plans shame that cllr was never entertained never mind.
JACQUI
Sue is correct about youth in general as you are, but its not a small number of youth who play football believe me, and i only picked that 1 sport as an example because its one i have a great deal of knowledge on.
on top of this Rugby, gymnastics, and many other sports also has wide ranging age groups within them,
I agree not everyone is into sports.
GENERAL
So im realy saying ok lets look at this in a more positive way, maybe look at Rogers comments(as it appears if i say it then it cant be right, but roger is not from a party i support so maybe that might help)
THE number of people visiting, and local population must count for something.
If we take many of the posters views that Dover is closed lets all go out of town to do everything cos its only 20 mins on a bus and cheap to do(not my words!!)
then that will see the slow run down of our town, something i thought we were all against and wanting to encourage people to make more use of Dover
We also need to be clear that political postings have been made on the high speed rail link which needs correcting
COLLOR alone did NOT get the high speed rail link, a number of bodies achieved and lobbied for it some of which are
THE MP, Dover pride, KCC DDC, DTC plus many many more, and it is unlikely to have happened without all these bodies lobbying
Just a point !!! as im sure all the other lobbyists would be upset to hear only 1 person taking credit, im sure the list is a lot longer.
Enough from me
lets move forward, and in doing so help DOVER, yes DOVERa survive
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,020
Roger I support you on this .If we counted all the vistors we woudl have a much higher figure.When people stay over in Dover what is there for a family to do?Its time we all revisited this Leisure idea .
Yes Keth you are right one man alone did not achieve the High Speed Link and time some took this on board
I was at a Parish Council meeting last night(River ) We had a presentation from a youth worker who is trying to get activities going in River for the local youth .Well I felt sorry for her .The Village Hall "No you cant use our Hall"The scout hut no they would not like people going in there .The Recreatuon ground is closed at 9.00pm and earlier in the Winter .
I said what a Grumpy old lot we are .When will people learn you have to make young people feel included . and involved ..
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
its a catch 22 situation,not in my backyard stuff.grumpy fudydudy people power.
Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
I agree with Roger, Dover has 1000's visitors via ferries and cruise's that you are not enticing to stop and visit the town itself. I worked at the cruise terminal from its birth and it will not be easy to rectify this problem. There are two types of cruises, one that calls to pick up passengers and up and away, the other uses Dover as port of call. These are the ones you need to target the most. At the moment few call and most run busses straight to Canterbury, Leeds castle etc. Cruise operators plan their brochures sometimes as much as 5 years in advance. The only way to attract these operators into including Dover in there itinerary is to make Dover a more attractive place for their passengers to WANT to visit.
IE, love or hate the sky lift, that will be an attraction that will enhance Dover' reputation in the tourism eyes.
The more that is done to attract visitors now, like Roger trying to bring our friends from over the channel, should attract more ferry and cruise passengers to include Dover as part of their holiday and attract more port of calls from cruise operators.
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Gary - sadly the cruise companies have a vested financial interest in selling coach trips to Canterbury and further afield. Only those who resist the hard sell take the time to walk into Dover and see what we have to offer.
How many years though have we been saying this about the travellers through Dover? I remember talking in the pub in the 1970's about how tragic it is that we dont capitalise on those coming via the Port. Nothing ever changes. Yes we do need to capture more people, get more to stay over, more to eat, drink and sleep here and to visit our attractions. It is easier said than done and I applaud the efforts of those like Roger who are applying themselves to this. More of course can and should be done and hopefully some of the projects currently being worked on and in the pipeline, as Gary says, will help with this. But it will only ever touch the surface and will not change the basic problem we have in attracting leisure companies. Maybe an expanded town with the increased housing will help but it is a long haul. I still suspect that the numbers will not work out to attract a multiplex, ice rink or ten pin here. I wish I could say diffferently.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I agree that the cruise companies have a vested interest in selling expensive day-excursions to their passengers: for Dover see London, Canterbury, Leeds Castle etc. etc.
But and it is an important but, there are an increasing number of people - cruise passengers, who don't want to go on an organised expensive excursion, many more people now want to investigate that Port of Call - in our case, Dover.
After I had written to Kent Tourism about the Discover Dover leaflet being given out at the Cruise terminals, I received confirmation over the week-end that the English version of the Discover Dover leaflets can be given out by the Cruise Welcome Group to those passengers who are NOT going an a day-excursion, but are coming in to Dover; this is great news for all the historic sites and attractions and the businesses here as they only need to pick up one leaflet, to find out about Dover's history and shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants - there is no other leaflet that has all this information.
I would publicly like to thank Kent-Tourism for this permission.
The Cruise Welcome Group are told NOT to be pro-active and step out from behind their desk to welcome those passengers coming into Dover, because the Cruise companies (apparantly) feel this will be taking away their business.
This is most definitely NOT the case; the cruise passengers will already have made up their mind about whether to take a day-excursion or not and booked it if they are; those not doing so, should be given all the (pro-active) help possible, to ensure they have a good memorable stay here - and we're not doing anywhere near as much as we could and should.
Roger
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
ROGER
Blimey mate this is the second time on here iom having to agree with you
lol
Must chat to you one day when you get 5 mins on these 3 companies willing to run a bowling centre
sadly long gone now, and unlikely to return, but as terry said a missed opportunity
yep lets get at these cruise liners and get them to stay in Dover
Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
Roger
That's a big and important step forward and one you would not have got without perseverance and I am sure, a bit of badgering.
You are also right with the change in cruise passengers, they have moved on from the high class toffs of old, I think you called them "scuffs" in an earlier thread. They are more inclined to take the cheaper option to visit Dover instead of paying for an expensive excursion. Those "you don't want to sit with scruffs - do you?" might help in Dover's future.
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"