The improvements refine and build on the successes of the temporary expansion of the coach park, which has been in place for a year, and will provide a longer term solution to better accommodate the 1.3m people from across the globe who visit the World Heritage Site annually – 60% of whom arrive by coach.
English Heritage has been given the go ahead for major improvements at Stonehenge which will bring massive benefits for tour operators, GTOs and their groups arriving by coach and ensure that all visitors enjoy a seamless experience and the highest standards of customer service at this showcase tourist attraction.
The improvements refine and build on the successes of the temporary expansion of the coach park, which has been in place for a year, and will provide a longer term solution to better accommodate the 1.3m people from across the globe who visit the World Heritage Site annually – 60% of whom arrive by coach.
Improvements centre on a newly-designed permanent coach park which will provide a more efficient welcome for groups, ease parking congestion and minimise queues with dedicated ticketing, toilet and shuttle facilities all conveniently located where they disembark from their coach.
For tour operators and GTOs, the key improvements are:
• The creation of a newly-designed coach park with a safer, more streamlined layout and permanent spaces for up to 53 60-seater coaches. It will simplify traffic management and group arrival and departure procedures, ease congestion, meet projected demand for coach parking in the longer term and provide safer pedestrian access
• A new Group Reception Building will be sited in a more convenient location, with WC facilities for group visitors almost doubling the number currently on site. An internal ticket and audio guide collection area with more till points will simplify and speed up ticket/audio guide collection and help visitor flow
• A new Visitor Transit Shuttle pick up point exclusively for groups will be located next to the Group Reception Building – so groups can go directly from their coach to the Stone Circle. Coupled with an enlarged and improved drop off/pick up layout at the Stones, it will be a more flexible and fluid service than the current system – able to step up if required to provide substantially more visitor journeys at times of peak pressure to reduce queues.
Kate Davies, Stonehenge’s General Manager says: “We are delighted that Wiltshire Council has approved our plans which are aimed at providing a sustainable permanent solution to give a world class experience for all our visitors, whilst retaining the integrity of this amazing ancient monument. Once in place, the improvements will allow us to give a better service to operators, tour guides and group members and to ease the pressure points on site, which will benefit all visitors. We have no plans to increase visitor numbers to Stonehenge, but rather to get the right balance by meeting the existing demand from visitors around the world, in a more efficient and safe way so that they enjoy their time at this World Heritage Site to the full. I feel sure that our travel and tourism colleagues bringing their groups to us will welcome this news, which will give them the confidence to plan their tour itineraries for the years ahead.”
Improvement works will be phased to minimise the impact on visitors and English Heritage expects that some of the improvements should already be in place ahead of summer 2017.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
