Cromer and Southend Methodology
Land Use Mapping:
The Land use mapping is carried out on a map with an area that was specifically given to us. We then visited the area and looked at the main land uses and documented it onto the grided map. We put the main land use of the area on the appropriate grid of the map i.e. if the main land use of the area is food retail we put an F on the suitable grid.
The land use types we were looking for were finical and business services, hot food and licences premises, leisure and entertainment. Health and medical Public services, other personal services non-food retailing, and food retailing. Vacant and derelict, Residential, and Other accommodation.
Environmental Quality Index (EQI):
The EQI we carried out at Cromer looked at what had been done to attract tourists to this destination, and want to make them return. The topics that the EQI looked at were - Litter, Street Furniture, State of Repair, Pedestrian-isation, Traffic Congestion, Noise, and Aesthetic Appearance.
We consider litter because if there is too much litter then tourists may be put off from coming back. This would lower the biggest income of the area, and seeing as most of the tourists that visit Cromer are elderly, because of Geriatrifacation, then being careful with litter is an important subject.
Street furniture is taken into consideration because most of the tourists in Cromer are elderly so they will need somewhere to sit down after walking for a while. If there is nowhere to sit then the elderly will not want to come back.
State of repair needs to be looked at because if the street is in a bad state of repair then it won’t be very attractive. So not many people would like to visit an area that isn’t very attractive. This would lead to a downfall in income and the infrastructure would suffer from a lack of tourists.
Pedestrian-isation is whether the area that we are looking has been made easy for pedestrians to use. This could include making the paths wide enough for pedestrians to walk on, or making sure there is enough furniture for pedestrians to use, or just making sure there are enough bins.
Traffic congestion is an important matter because if there is too much congestion on the roads then there will be too much pollution around the area. This could lead to polluted water or acid rain. Elderly people may also find it hard to breathe in polluted air this could cause them to stay away from the area, thus leading to a decrease in profits.
Noise should be monitored because too much noise can lead to noise pollution and this can cause deafness in some people. Also most elderly people are sensitive to noise so if there is too much noise then Cromer’s main income producers has gone and their profits have disappeared so they can’t solve the noise problem or make the town more attractive to the younger generations.
Aesthetic Appearance is important because if the town was unattractive then not many tourists would come to visit the area thus decreasing the profits that would have been created. If an area looks appealing then more tourists would visit the area, increasing the profits so more money could be spent on making the town more appealing to a wider range of generations. This would increase the profits even more making it possible to extend the town.
Questionnaire:
We completed questionnaire’s to see if different age/demographic types have different views on whether Cromer is a good tourist destination. When we did this it was on a weekday morning and bit was a cold and wet day so not very many people were around.
We asked some personal information such as age and sex. We asked our candidates this information because different age and sex types have different views on what is a good tourist destination and what is not.
We also asked our volunteers if they were residents or visitors to Cromer. I feel this is important because residents would feel that Cromer is a good tourist destination because that is why they would have moved to live in Cromer. While some tourists may not like the destination because they may have been informed about Cromer from someone who is a different age or personality type.
We asked people how they travelled to the town. This is relevant because we need to know if people took public transport or whether they made their own way to Cromer. This is needed to see the levels of traffic congestion in the town, and if work needs to be done to lower the levels.
We asked our volunteers how often they travelled to Cromer. We asked them this to see if people travelled to Cromer often. Their answers would reflect how popular Cromer is as a tourist destination. If the majority said they travel here quite often then it would show Cromer is a popular tourist destination.
Another question we asked was ‘How long are you staying here [Cromer]’. The answers to this question would show if Cromer is seen as a day trip or if it is seen as a longer term staying destination. This would also show us what different age groups think of Cromer. The younger generations would see Cromer as more off a day trip where the older generations would like to stay in Cromer for longer periods of time.
We asked people where they were staying in Cromer (type of accommodation). We asked them this question to see if the hotels in the area were making profits or if the tourists are staying in cheaper accommodations or with family. This is important because this would show us weather or not tourism is high or weather it is quite low. It would also show us whether Cromer is seen as a longer-term holiday destination or a day trip.
The main reasons for visiting the town were another question we asked. This is important because it shows us what tourists think Cromer is the best destination for, the answers vary from leisure to work. The answers we received would show us what people come to Cromer for. If people come for leisure or sight seeing then it is more than likely they’ve come to Cromer on a holiday.
We also asked residents and tourists how they rate Cromer as a tourist destination. This shows what people think of Cromer as a tourist destination. When people rate Cromer as good tourist destination we can look at their age and see if they are elderly, middle aged or younger. This will show us what age group find Cromer the best tourist destination.
We then asked the volunteers if they have visited a certain place in the town, such as the museum, pier, beach or amusement arcades. This helps us determine the main attractions in the town, which helps us determine the main audience of the council. Thus letting we see who visits the town.
The next Question was asking what the volunteer’s weather they thought tourism had a positive or negative impact on Cromer. This would help us to understand how people feel towards tourism, and weather they feel it is a good thing or a bad thing. This would also show us how residents and visitors to the town feel differently towards tourism.
Next we asked the volunteers if they feel the town needs any more facilities such as, shops, better transport, more parking, or better nightlife. This will give us an insight into what the tourists and residents feel the town needs.
If the volunteer was a resident then we finally asked them how long they have been living in the town this will help us see what year the town was most visited or when people bought houses here because people will have been living their for a similar amount of years.
If the volunteer was a visitor then we finally asked them if they would consider coming back to the town. This is to see what tourists think of the town and weather a certain age group is more likely to come back than another.
Traffic and Pedestrian Counts:
We carried out traffic and pedestrian counts to see how congested the roads are. This will help us to see how many vehicles passing through the area, and weather something needs to be done to lower the amount of cars passing through the area. When we did the traffic and a pedestrian count it was a weekday and it was in winter so amounts of people and traffic may be low.
If the amount of cars passing through the area is too high then pollution will be too high and the sea will get poisoned, animals and fish will die and tourism will drop.
To solve the problem congestion charges could be introduced or toll booths. Or even a limit to the amount of vehicles that enter the town. All these ideas would lower the amount of traffic in the town.
Questionnaire
This is the Questionnaire that we asked people at Cromer and Southend. When we did the Questionnaire in Cromer it was a weekday so people will have been working or they would have been at school. It was also a dull rainy day so anyone who was on in the town would have been indoors. Yet when we did the Questionnaire at Southend it was a weekend it was also a nice day so people will have been out and near the seafront where we carried out the Questionnaire.
- What is your gender?
Male: 36
Female: 53
-
Age? 0-18: 7 19-30:14 31-50:25 51-65: 23 over 65: 20
- Are you a resident or a visitor?
Resident: 67
Visitor: 22
- How far have you travelled today?
Less than 1 mile: 21 1-5 miles: 20 6-10 miles: 7
11-50 miles: 7 over 50 miles: 0 Outside UK: 0
- How did you travel here?
Car: 18 Bus: 7 Train: 5 Coach: 3 Bicycle: 1
On foot: 2 Other: 0
- How often do you come to this town (approximately)?
Every day: 24 Every week: 6 Every month: 6
More than once a year: 8 Less than once a year: 0
First visit: 2
- How long are you staying here?
One day: 12 2-6 days: 4 1 week: 5
More than one week: 16
- Where are you staying?
Hotel: 6 Guesthouse: 4 B&B: 1 Camp/Caravan site: 4
Friends/family: 5 Other: 21 Not staying overnight: 5
- What are your main reasons for visiting the town?
Leisure/pleasure: 15 Work: 8 sightseeing: 5 Visit friends and family: 5 Shopping: 19 Other: 19
- How would you rate this town as a tourist destination?
Good-plenty to see and do: 42 Fair: 10 Poor-not much to do: 19 Don’t consider it a tourist destination: 3 Don’t know: 5
- Did you visit any of the following places?
Church: 39 Museum: 35 Galleries: 22 Lifeboat centre: 37 Lighthouse: 34 pier: 52 Amusements: 28 Theatre: 28 Beach: 61 Shops: 65 Café: 29
- Do you think that tourism has a positive or negative on this town?
-
Positive: 67 Negative: 9 Both: 7 Don’t know: 5
- Are there any other facilities you would like to see?
Better Transport: 20 More Shops: 18 More parking: 9
More Cafés: 8 More arcades: 5 Better nightlife: 3
Other: 28
- How long have you lived in this town?
0-5 years: 9 6-10 years: 11 11-20 years: 20
21-40 years:14 40+ years: 13
- Would you consider returning to this town?
Definitely: 11 Maybe: 3 No: 8
Analysis
Graph 1 is a bi-polar graph that shows the EQI scores for litter that I gave to eight different locations in Cromer and Southend. The chart shows the different levels of litter in commercial and residential areas. It shows there is more litter in Southend than in Cromer. This could be because Southend is more of a commercial area than Cromer, which is a highly residential area.
Cromer is a more residential area because it is home to high number of retired citizens. This is because the area is mostly built for the elderly. There isn’t much for younger generations to do or see. Picture 1 shows the average street in Cromer. It can be seen that Cromer is quite on old town this is why a great deal of people retire here. Consequently there won’t be very many people in Cromer who would generally drop litter on the streets so the litter levels will be low.
Southend is quiet a youthful location that has lots to see and experience for all ages. This means that Southend will attract a lot of people to different amusements and areas of Southend. This means, because there is a higher level of youthful tourism more litter will be dropped. This proves that my first Hypothesis was Correct and that there is more litter dropped in commercial areas
Graph 2 is a donut graph that shows the amount of traffic congestion in the eight locations I carried out my EQI in Cromer and Southend. The graph shows the varying levels of traffic congestion in residential and commercial areas. It shows us that the higher percentage of congestion (58%) is in Cromer. This could be because Cromer is easier to get to by car than it is to use the railways as a way of transportation. While Southend is easier to get to using trains than it is by car.
Cromer is a more residential area t than Southend. This could mean that the higher percentage of congestion is due to residents and not tourists, who would use the railways. Residents in Cromer are likely to use their own car as a means of transportation and not public transport.
In Southend there is higher percentage of people that are tourists rather than residents. This is because Southend is more of a commercial area and not a residential area this will thus attract tourists. In Southend tourists tend to travel there using the train system rather than driving there themselves.
This means that my second Hypothesis ‘Tourism increases car congestion’ is false. Tourists don’t just travel too places using their own cars they use trains and public transport also.
Graph 3 is a pie chart and it shows the percentage of pedestrians at the eight different locations I carried out my investigation in Cromer and Southend. It shows that were more pedestrians in Southend on the day that we carried out these surveys. This could be because of the weather on the day we were doing our surveys and EQI’s.
On the day that we carried out our surveys in Cromer it was quite a dull day (see Picture 2 a picture of Cromer pier taken on the day we filled in our surveys) so not many tourists would have travelled on this day. While it was quite a bright day in Southend so a lot of tourists would have travelled into the town. Also because Southend is close to some big cities such as London a lot more people would have access to Southend over Cromer.
The largest percentages of pedestrians are around the town centres. This is because it is where most of the ‘attractions’ are in Southend and Cromer.
Graph 5 shows the results that we acquired during our questionnaires in Cromer and Southend. The results show whether people think that tourism is good or bad for the town. The majority decision was that tourism had a positive affect on the town. This is because tourism brings income to the town, which means better facilities can be built. These facilities will be used by the local residents.
The tourism will also mean that better facilities will get built. Such as better public transport, shops and roads. This means that local residents also get the benefits of tourism. Tourism will also mean that the town/city will become popular and will therefore become a better place to live. As tourism grows the place will become better known. This will mean the people that live there will think they are living in a better place than they would have before. This would be due to the increased publicity that the town has gained.
The negative voters, however, may have experienced the bad side of tourism. Such as the litter that is created from all of the extra people, and retail that is created to please the tourists. Also congestion could be problem. The tourists come to the town will use cars rather than public transport, because it means they have more freedom to explore. So all the extra traffic could lead to big problems if it is not well managed.
Graph 6 shows the state of repair according to my Environmental Quality Index. It shows that commercial areas such as Southend town centre and Holt Road are in a better state of repair than the residential roads such as Shakespeare Drive. This could be due to a number of reasons.
One of these is that the commercial roads are been used more often than the residential roads so the local council will be more aware of the repairs that are needed on the commercial roads because they will want to keep them pedestrian friendly as these roads bring money to the council through the selling of goods and entertainment. The residential roads are also not used as much as the commercial roads. This means the roads don’t need to be repaired as often because there are not been used by many people, so as a result are often forgotten about until they are in a dire state of repair.
Picture 3 shows the state of repair on one of the residential roads of Cromer (Louden road). The road is in quite good state of repair, however the path is narrow and it does look uneven and worn. The road itself also looks worn and in need of a patch up.
Graph 7 shows the results from a question in our questionnaire. It shows what mode of transport was taken by the people we asked in our questionnaire. It shows that most people (18) travelled by car to the towns. This could show that the public transport in the two towns is not very good; this is shown by the lack of people using the public transport. The amount of people travelling to the town would increase because they would have a more pleasant journey to the town.
People travelling to Southend usually travel using train as the road access to the town is poor. The trains they have to travel in (picture 4) are not very spacious so people are cramped. The facilities on board are also poor as there are not very often toilets on the trains. Refreshments can not be bought on the trains either. The trains are also dirty and are not cleaned very often. This makes the journey to Southend very unpleasant so people don’t take the train to Southend very often unless they have to.
This often leads to traffic congestion as the road access is poor but people don’t want to take the train as they are unpleasant to travel on. So people take their cars. This traffic congestion leads to pollution making the town unpleasant to visit this would reduce the amount of people travelling to the town.