\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 As the architect of First\u2019s successful \u2018Adventures by Bus\u2019<\/a> brand, it was perhaps unsurprising that he made the move elsewhere into tourism, back on his island homeland, running the Isle of Wight Steam Railway<\/a> which was recently designated museum status; hence its \u201810 mile museum\u2019 strapline. With the summer season climaxing soon and my fascination with all things leisure and transport, I caught up with garrulous Marc to check how his summer has fared, as a barometer into the wider tourism market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summer has been really mixed and there\u2019s no discernible pattern,\u201d he tells me. <\/p>\n \u201cSome months we are up, some we are down. Having said that, about two-thirds of our revenue is earned between August and December, so it\u2019s too early to predict really.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a number of distinct markets and periods \u2013 school holidays, non-school holiday, the coach market, free to enter events that tend to attract locals and high value events such as our four-day August Bank Holiday Steam Fayre.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter those, we have the October half-term when we\u2019re besieged with wizards and witches, then an intensive and extended Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n The unique challenge for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway is that it is somewhat at the mercy of the ferry companies.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we benefit from being a tourist destination, one of our risks is that the two ferry operators can influence visitor numbers to the island, both in terms of availability, but especially price,\u201d Marc laments. <\/p>\n \u201cLooking to next year we are already planning how we can increase our penetration of the \u2018domestic\u2019 island population.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many of its peers, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway has a mindset of seeing its role as a commercial attraction \u2013 a broad one that appeals to a wide, diverse market.<\/p>\n The money we make from visitors who value and appreciate nostalgia, heritage and a great day out funds the fabulous restoration and preservation of our \u201810-mile museum\u2019. It\u2019s a simple and well understood balance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money we make from visitors who value and appreciate nostalgia, heritage and a great day out funds the fabulous restoration and preservation of our \u201810-mile museum\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a simple and well understood balance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe railway itself sits at the heart of our attraction. We think it\u2019s one of the best period preserved railways in the UK, a unique representation of what island railways were about \u2013 rather than simply an amalgamation of locomotives, Mk 1 carriages and a length of line to run them along. We\u2019ve a very clear brief that we work to deliver, so that the sum of the parts is greater than them individually. What we have surrounding that unique railway though, is a visitor attraction that seeks to appeal to the broad visitor market. We\u2019re rail enthusiasts through and through, but we know that to appeal to a wider market we have to offer more than a train ride, even a unique one. We\u2019re a visitor attraction with a heritage railway at the heart of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Accordingly, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway has continued to invest in the non-heritage, non-rail facilities that visitors demand, recognising it is competing with a diverse and mature range of other visitor attractions on the island for its customers. Marc elaborates: \u201cWe\u2019ve very much concentrated that investment into our Havenstreet site which benefits from infrastructure that a visitor attraction needs \u2013 multiple and varied catering and bar outlets, a large car park, good toilets, a decent shop that appeals to the wider visitor market and our large events field. For this season we invested \u00a385k in fitting out our modern chic new cafe and bar\u201d.<\/p>\n The investment will continue over the next three years as the railway refurbishes and repositions the original caf\u00e9 to meet market expectations, renews and expand children\u2019s activities and provides more infrastructure to allow the railway to host more events and enhance the non-railway element of any visit.<\/p>\n Many preserved railways are in financial difficulties. However, that long-term concentration on the broader visitor market that Marc referred to, and a long period of very sound financial management following a wobble around 30 years ago, has created a very sound and stable financial situation. There are significant reserves and the railway covers all of its running costs, including rolling stock overhauls, from operating revenues.<\/p>\n \u201cOur approach is to invest in the future, and we have the headroom and revenue streams to do that,\u201d says Marc. \u201cHeritage and nostalgia are as strong a draw as ever. There\u2019s very much a market, but it\u2019s really important to broaden it.<\/p>\n Some trips on preserved railways feel pricey. Marc suggests: \u201cIt depends on what you\u2019re offering. A fare represents travel. An entry represents a visitor attraction. We\u2019re the latter. Yes, you pay to ride the trains (as much as you like for the day), but our price is competitive in the visitor attraction market.\u201d <\/p>\n If we all wanted \u2018cheap and purely purposeful\u2019, the roads of Britain would be filled with nothing but Dacia Sanderos!<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always admired Marc as one of the most entrepreneurial and outspoken of transport folk, and he doesn\u2019t hold back: \u201cI\u2019ve worked in commercial bus for 25 years, but I\u2019ve always been critical of most of that sector. Time and time again for the last 10 years of my bus career for a big group I was hounded by \u2018head office\u2019 people. They berated me for not following their one trick pony approach of offering \u2018discounted travel\u2019. The team must be bored senseless of me pointing out that if we all wanted \u2018cheap and purely purposeful\u2019, the roads of Britain would be filled with nothing but Dacia Sanderos! The best bus companies provide just that. I\u2019m not sure there is really a market in many sectors where piling it high and pricing it low works in the long term. <\/p>\n \u201cIn my experience, price is rarely the deciding factor for a purchase \u2013 we have to be conscious of affordability, but ultimately, we know that what customers really want is great quality \u2013 exceeding their expectations. Something that makes them go home and tell their family and friends how great an experience they have had \u2013 with photos to share across social media of that experience. If you look at our Tripadviser ratings, that\u2019s clear\u201d.<\/p>\n Marc regales me with childhood memories that are also my own: \u201cI\u2019m of an age where my mother used to bring me beans on toast while I sat and watched Mr Benn. I\u2019m obsessed with getting to the point where we are delivering a Mr Benn moment \u2013 where our visitors arrive from the modern day then step through the wardrobe door into another world.\u201d<\/p>\n The Isle of Wight Steam Railway\u2019s added value products and experiences have seen strong growth. It regularly sells-out First Class upgrades and its on-board hamper and footplate experiences sell themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are definitely people out there who aren\u2019t struggling to spend,\u201d says Marc. \u201cThose who can want to get more from their spend \u2013 a bit like you with your model railway, Alex\u201d. <\/p>\n Thank goodness discretionary spending is increasing as I\u2019m told it costs \u201ca fortune\u201d to run a heritage railway in 2024. The increased cost of coal, materials, heating and labour have been huge in the heritage rail sector.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s made the sector increase ticket prices like we never felt confident to do previously,\u201d says Marc.\u201cBut the reality is that so long as we have been offering great value and nostalgia in shovel-loads, the customer hasn\u2019t been put off\u201d. <\/p>\n With model shops closing down at a rapid rate and my observations of fewer trainspotters at platform ends, I worry about the shrinking rail enthusiast market. Marc isn\u2019t fretting: \u201cWho says it is shrinking? I\u2019m not sure it is at all. Our customers and our all-important volunteers keep coming \u2013 in both groups it isn\u2019t gricers. We attract volunteers who love the nostalgia and the atmosphere of the railway \u2013 they may become rail enthusiasts, but we don\u2019t need them to be!\u201d<\/p>\n Marc\u2019s pistons are going fast now: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s just about heritage. I spent most of my career in bus in tourist markets. I learnt very early on that leisure travel is a high value product, and one that people aspire to buy. It\u2019s not your typical distress purchase.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a holy grail in any bus company where you overlay leisure travel on top of local travel. If you can add 10% onto your revenue line from leisure travel you\u2019ve just doubled your typical profit margin<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a holy grail in any bus company where you overlay leisure travel on top of local travel. If you can add 10% onto your revenue line from leisure travel you\u2019ve just doubled your typical profit margin.<\/p>\n He continues at pace: \u201cMy fear for bus and for rail as the bus sector becomes regulated and franchised, and as rail is morphed back into full Department for Transport control, is that the commercial drive for sweating networks and routes through identifying, packaging and branding leisure travel will be lost. There\u2019s a real danger that franchising authorities are mesmerised by a London model which is all about urban transit networks. Across much of the UK, the market isn\u2019t about mass transit.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent years trying to convince Cornwall Council that painting all the buses bland uniform red and producing a single piece of information rather than marketing materials would deliver a net reduction in revenues as the leisure market contracted. That market is excitable and aspirational, but it needs to be marketed to like any such product. <\/p>\n Marc\u2019s on a roll and you sense he has unfinished business in the conventional transport space: \u201cI don\u2019t think the sectors are in the right mindset to understand and package some outstanding products that they already have. If you\u2019ve travelled the branch and mainlines of Britain\u2019s rail network, or whiled away days travelling on spectacular bus journeys across Britain\u2019s stunning countryside like we both have, you understand the potential. I cannot comprehend how the bus and rail sectors haven\u2019t generally understood the leisure value of the products they are already selling \u2013 often seeing them purely as distress purchases.<\/p>\n Boom or no boom, rail and bus have a huge opportunity that they aren\u2019t anywhere near fully exploiting<\/p>\n \u201cThere are great examples \u2013 look at how the Settle to Carlisle Community Rail Partnership sells the leisure overlay on their line, so too Blazefield\u2019s 36 with its customer-centric proposition, and at those other companies who use Ray Stenning\u2019s Best Impressions or your Great Scenic Journeys<\/a> offering to draw out the opportunities to sell high value leisure travel across their killer routes. It\u2019s baffling that the majority of the bus sector pays no attention to a revenue source that simply layers additional high-value revenue upon parts of their networks. Boom or no boom, rail and bus have a huge opportunity that they aren\u2019t anywhere near fully exploiting.\u201d<\/p>\n And as he draws breath momentarily, Marc scurries off to his conference room which unashamedly doubles up as a fascinating emporium of transport books for visitors, where he\u2019s organising a customer service training programme for volunteers and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cOur visitors give us great feedback, but we need everyone to get the \u2018Wow Factor\u2019, to tell a friend,\u201d he explains. \u201cOnly by achieving that can we take our 10-mile museum to the next level. We simply cannot be complacent\u201d. Amen to all that. <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post From buses to a \u201810-mile museum\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 I spoke to Marc Morgan Huws about his new role at Isle of Wight Steam Railway and tapping into the high-value leisure market \u00a0 Marc Morgan-Huws has worked in senior roles for Go-Ahead and First Bus \u00a0 There are few multi-modal transport professionals around, fewer still those who have traded roles in the bus sector for a preserved railway…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMarc Morgan-Huws has worked in senior roles for Go-Ahead and First Bus<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThere are few multi-modal transport professionals around, fewer still those who have traded roles in the bus sector for a preserved railway or a \u201810 mile museum\u2019! Marc Morgan Huws is one of this rare species, with a CV that includes being council leader for the Isle of Wight, heading up Southern Vectis, and senior commercial and general management roles elsewhere in Go-Ahead and First Bus.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer in offering a high value product \u2013 high quality and decent prices that allow for quality and onward investment. <\/p>\n
\nABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner<\/strong> has over 30 years\u2019 experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of recruitment business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration and chair of Surrey FA.<\/p>\n
\nThis story appears inside the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n