Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and brochures would also have a similar life expectancy.
In the UK, the railway companies approached this method of promotion more
cautiously according to Ward (2001). Although some companies produced posters for
individual resorts such as 'Skegness is so bracing' in 1908 by the Great Northern
Railway, this was not the norm. Indeed, the Local Government Board in 1914 deemed
municipal advertising on tourism inappropriate despite Blackpool's highly developed
publicity programme on the rates.
Even so, a 'highly competitive resort selling game' (Ward 2001:37) existed in the UK,
and only limited powers were granted prior to 1914. After 1914, the UK saw a greater
resort and railway company partnership in place-promotion, with the Health Resorts and
Watering Places Act 1921 allowing resort municipalities the right to spend up to 1d rate
on certain forms of advertising. After this point, cooperative railway-resort marketing
emerged although the 1930s saw greater pressure for local authorities to increase their
marketing and place promotion activities as the car and charabancs opened up new day
trip markets. In the case of the most prolific railway advertiser, the Great Western
Railway (GWR), A.Bennett (2002) acknowledged that
The GWR's literary and visual representations drew heavily upon the
concept of departure, that is, the qualitative distinction between daily or
accepted routine and that of a special experience. Departure could assume
an historical form, a particular location, an aesthetic appreciation or the
sheer, exuberant pleasures of the seaside…GWR marketing also stressed
the experience of the journey itself in its various forms, as a spectacle, an
adventure and often as a unique and glamorous event… These were
brought together in prestige advertising, a dimension of place marketing.
(Bennett 2002:3)
The iconography of railway poster advertising provides not only an expression of
place marketing, but also a distinct style and mode of representing the imagery of the
coast for potential visitors. As Bennett (2002) observed, the GWR view of the seaside
had two key elements: that of a fashionable and exclusive 'watering place' for certain
locations (e.g. Torquay) through to family-based resorts (e.g. Paignton and Porthcawl).
GWR also took a lead role in the overseas marketing of
Britain, with its influential role in developing the Travel Association of Great Britain and
Ireland, to promote the country overseas due to the economic benefits of inbound
tourism.
Ward (2001) acknowledged that the 1920s were the heydays of railway company
place-promotion and the 1930s saw municipalities increase their role. By 1939,
Blackpool was producing 150 holiday guides to send to potential visitors, while resorts
began a greater market segmentation, attracting conferences off-season. Therefore what
this Insight shows is that a number of agents and actors in coastal resorts (e.g. the railway
companies and municipalities) devised a wide range of promotional tools to sell and
advertise their localities. This in itself was highly controversial in the Victorian,
Edwardian and inter war periods and remains so even at the present day
It is also
