From looking over the table above the prices are quite reasonable for the family. There is something there to please all of them.
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When the family come in to East Midlands Airport then there will be a tourist board in which on there will display some of Alton Towers leaflets. The leaflets may catch the children’s eye as it makes the attraction looks fun and friendly. It contains a map of the theme park and a voucher for so much money off. It will also attract the parents as it shows other events there other than the theme park, things such as the spa and golf.
Novelty
Alton Towers offers some of the most extravagant rides in the UK, including Oblivion, Air and Ripsaw. It is the UK leading short break attraction.
A Corporate Visitor who wants to organise a visit which incorporates entertainment and a meal for a group of 14 clients:-
Location
The location for this event is quite appropriate. It is close by one of the major cities in the UK. It is 45.6 miles away from Nottingham and takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to. The map below shows the route to get to Alton Towers.
Distances:
London - 150 miles
Nottingham - 40 miles
Manchester - 50 miles
Sheffield - 45 miles
Glasgow - 270 miles
Opening Times
The opening times can suit the corporate group. As they can go explore the park from 10 till the park closes or until they have to go to a meeting. How ever the attraction is not open all year round.
Transport Links
Again they have a lot of good transport links. The closest train stations are Stafford and Uttoxeter; there are regular bus services from these train stations to the theme park. Also National Rail put on a coach trip to the theme park. How ever if they was travelling by car then again the M1 motorway.
Product and Services Specific to their needs
The theme park offers a lot of products and services for corporate events. They provide conference rooms, entry to the theme park and other attractions there; spas, Water Park, hotel rooms, team building events and they also do special catering for the corporate group.
Cost of Visiting
For the corporate group the prices are quite a bit different the transport may be the same as the family depending where in the UK they are at. But for the resort things are a bit different. The theme park offers a company away day package which includes the follow:-
- Complimentary car parking
- Entrance ticket to the Theme Park
- Hire of the Tower Suite situated within the theme park between 9.30am -5.00pm
- Arrival refreshments - tea, coffee & biscuits
- Choice of lunch menus
- Balloons to decorate the venue if required
Package price: £49.00
The team building events as said on their website include:
The Alton Towers Challenge
The Alton Towers challenge is one of our most popular team building activities which involves delegates enjoying the theme park rides, providing photographic evidence, answering questions, and competing for points and prizes. This activity can be tailor made to your requirements and can include more relaxing activities if required!
An Extraordinary Golf tournament
Extraordinary Golf offers guests a miniature 18-hole golf course cleverly themed around the park's signature rides and attractions. Host an extraordinary golf tournament as great team building exercise during a meeting or conference at Alton Towers and putt your way around all 18 holes.
Water Park team building activities
Cariba Creek is Alton Towers Caribbean lagoon-style Water Park. Perfect for water-based team building events for 100-400 delegates.
For their meal they can choose between 2 different restaurants, the Secret Garden Restaurant and Flambo’s feast. Both of which seats up to 300 people.
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The image that the park gives off towards this particular group is a chance to meet new people and get to know a bit more of whom you are working with. Also it gives them the chance to experience the rides of a life time and let off a bit of steam.
A wheelchair user who is visiting Manchester and its outskirts for a couple of days with a friend
Location
For this group the park is situated quite well. It is easy to find and easily accessible.
Opening times
The opening times again are suitable for wheelchair users. It opens at 10 this gives the person plenty of time to sort themselves out and get to the theme park.
Transport links
As before the transport links are good, but may not be suitable for a person in a wheel chair as if they go on a train then they would have to mess about at the train stations also on the train getting on and off them, also there are facilities at the train station to help them but it would still mean to mess about.. So the best thing for them to do is either a coach (if possible) or driving there.
Products and services specific to their needs
They have disabled parking available. Instead of messing about with your wheelchair when you are there you can hire a wheel chair from the theme park at £20 refundable deposit, but limited available so always best to book in advance. There are lifts to all floors of all the hotels, shops, and restaurant and games rooms. Special access to the spas. If you provide proof of disability then you can also be eligible for a wristband that helps when queuing, you will not have to wait in the standard queue. All toilets around park have at least 1 accessible toilet for disabled people.
Cost of Visiting
Prices are shown below for the different parts of the theme park:-
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For the person who was in a wheelchair the image could be a chance ion a life time to do some of the things that Alton Towers has to offer, also the things that they can achieve by going.
Now for my second attraction. The natural attraction, The City of Caves.
A Family of inbound tourists, with 12 and 14 year old children, from Spain
Location
The location for this group is convenient as it is situated in the middle of one of the main shopping centres in Nottingham. The shopping centre is not far from the train and bus station so quite easy to find. This is if they landed in East midlands airport.
Opening Times
The opening times are 10:30am – 4pm all through the week. These are quite suitable as well for the tourists as there will be many of people around if they are not sure where to go. Also it is open during the main shopping times so if they go in Broadmarsh and they may go past/near it during shopping.
Transport Links
The transport links are very useful here as the caves are not far from the bus station as well as the train station. There is also a regular bus service that goes past the Broadmarsh centre. And in addition there is a regular tram that takes you in to the middle of the town.
Products and Services specific to their needs
The product would be the Caves. The services also could be the rock shop that they have in reception.
Cost of Visiting
For the cost if they were staying in Nottingham then they wouldn’t need any transport to get there. When they get to the caves though they could get the family ticket which consists of 2 adults and 2 children which is perfect for this family. The price of this ticket would be £16.50.
Image
The image for the caves would be educational for the children and also a bit of background information on the UK and its history for the adults.
Novelty
The novelty for this attraction would be going into the original underground caves which date back to 1250AD which is located in the city centre.
A corporate visitor who wants to organise a visit which incorporates entertainment and a meal for a group of 14 clients
Location
The location is perfect for the group; it is in the middle of one of the main shopping centres.
Opening Times
The opening times again are the same as the tourists, but for this group it would have been a bit limited to what time they can go due to the limit in times.
Transport links
The transport links are very useful here as the caves are not far from the bus station as well as the train station. There is also a regular bus service that goes past the Broadmarsh centre. And in addition there is a regular tram that takes you in to the middle of the town.
Products and services specific to their needs
There isn’t much there for them. The product would be the Caves and the rock shop. But there isn’t much for them. They could make a room for them, cater for them, how photo copying, OHP, fax and email.
Cost of Visiting
For this group they could get in for a group ticket. The Caves have a special offer for a group which is 1 in 12 go free, only available on request.
Image
There isn’t much of an image for this group. Again they may see it as a bit of educational background on England but nothing much else.
A wheelchair user who is visiting London and its outskirts for a couple of days with a friend
Location
The location for the Wheel chair user might not be ideal as it’s up the stairs in the Broadmarsh centre, so they would have to mess about getting there. But it wouldn’t be that hard to find as there are some disabled toilets near there in the shopping centre.
Opening Times
The opening times are as they are for the others, for a wheelchair user they are reasonable.
Transport Links
The transport links again are brilliant. There are buses, trams, taxis, trains all at the front door of the centre. These can be all used by disable people.
Products and Services specific to their needs
For a wheelchair user even the caves are out of the question for a product as they are unable to go down the stairs to get into the caves. The rock shop could be a product to them as it sells many of different type of rocks. They do not have disabled toilets but there are some in the Broadmarsh centre.
Cost of Visiting
The cost for a wheelchair user would be free of charge due to they wouldn’t be able to access the attraction. They also wouldn’t be able to change the attraction to suit them.
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Again educational and a bit of history of England.
Task 2 (M2)
For this part of the assignment i am going to choose the Caves.
The caves could have changed quite a bit.
They could start printing there leaflets off in different languages. Also to interest children may be make it a bit more fun and exciting, such as putting on activity’s for them, a quiz something instead of just walking around. The quiz could include a little bit of orientation, question which they have to find the answer to.
For corporate groups they could change a bit of the cave in like a gathering place for them in one of the alcove bits. The Caves never offered corporate hospitality, so they could improve this by having lockers, for the customers to put their bags and stuff in.
To interest more wheelchair users they could insert a lift and a different entrance to the cave for them or maybe even a slope.
For displaying the attraction the caves could have advertised in and outside the Broadmarsh centre, to show where a bout’s they were. This could improve on their custom as more people would notice this instead of not going near it. Also as for the length of the tour it could have been made a bit longer with more different years included in this.
For Adults: They could improve to attract more for adults by offering a bit more then just a rock gift shop. They could arrange to have more seating around and maybe make the tour a bit longer. As for the interpretation techniques they could advertise a bit more e.g. posters, TV adverts
For Children: What they can improve on to attract children is to get some interactive screens with educational games in the reception for them to enjoy. Also maybe clothes like what they use to used when the caves was a tannery or war time shelter. With advertising maybe TV adverts, adverts in magazines, posters.
For Overseas Visitors: They could attract other visitors from overseas by supplying leaflets, signs, and websites in different languages. Also getting staff in that can give the talk in the different languages.
For Groups: For the groups what they could do to improve is make the tour longer and more exciting depending on their reason for the visit.
For Special Interest Groups: With this group they could have TV adverts, magazines, magazines directed at archaeologists.
Special needs (Special needs can be anyone from women with children to people with a hearing impairment): For this particular group a good start to improve is to offer the leaflets and signs in brail for the visually impaired.
For the hearing impaired maybe a information sheet with the actors lines or maybe even the DVD of the tour with subtitles.
For women with children maybe they could supply a carry system for those children who can’t walk and maybe closer toilets, as their wasn’t any here them.
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