Something wonderful from CaRT

[Jerra]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

Totally agree - but the number of days I have travelled (say) 20 miles along the River Trent and seen none - would mean that those 10,000 were somewhere else

Quite possible.  Last time I was in the Gas Street area I was at a conference, there must have been nearly 1600 "visits" over lunch time just from the conference alone just from delegates.  Not counting the throngs of others there and the traffic went on for at least 15 possibly 18+ hours.  I am only talking of a stretch some 400 - 600 yards long.

[LadyG]

I was asked if I'd agree to be a regular consumer/customer survee [sic] for EDF Energy who have a huge complex near here, yes said I, and answered todays questionaire, but added, I knew what they told us, but I was not sure it was "the truth" ie  they would not tell us "bad news", only "good news".

I have not been asked again.

No one has asked me about canal towpaths, but of course the nearest one is an hour's drive away.

Edited May 22, 2018 by LadyG

[Alan de Enfield]

22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Some time ago C&RT published the methodology in getting the visitor figures.

 

I don't remember the exact detail but it was basically :

 

Every 2 weeks - telephone 2000 'random' people, ask them if they had used a towpath in the last 2 weeks.

(say) 200 of them had then,

that being 10% of the sample, 10% of the entire population of the UK was assumed to have visited a towpath, so 6 million visits per 2 weeks, or 3 million per week.

 

On being questioned about the validity of this method  the reply was it was a standard marketing technique (which as a Post Graduate in marketing , a DipM and MCIM, made me smile)

 

Found some of the info from 2015.

 

The Canal & River Trust monitors both visitors (people) and visits (occasions) through our Inland Waterways Visitor Survey (IWVS). The IWVS was established in 2003 and is currently conducted by independent market research agency BDRC Continental. The IWVS is a telephone survey that runs continuously through the year, interviewing almost 12,000 people annually.

A nationally representative sample of just under 1,000 adults is interviewed each month. Data is weighted on a monthly basis to the national GB population profile in terms of region, sex and age. A Random Digit Dialling (RDD) approach is used. This is a system which offers a totally geographically unclustered sample; vital since an individual’s usage of waterways is determined in part by their proximity to waterways (either living or working).

The visitor figure referred to, of around 10 million is based on the number of people who say they have visited a canal in the last year. Some will only have visited once, perhaps to a canal side pub for Sunday lunch; others may be visiting everyday as their route to work or to walk the dog. We know asking about behaviour over the last year presents some problems – some people may think back beyond a year, others will have forgotten their visit. We feel however, that this measure gives us a reasonable overview of visitor behaviour on an annual basis.

We also measure total visit occasions, and although there is obviously varies from year to year, depending on the weather, external events as well as our own marketing and communications. It is usually around 300 million visits.

The total visits figure is gathered by first asking people if they have visited one of our waterways in the last two weeks. Why two weeks? Two weeks is used as it is short enough to accurately remember more detailed information about their visit, but gives a larger and more robust sample than just asking about visits in the last week. Some people may have only visited once; others may have visited lots, doing different activities on different occasions. By counting all these different occasions we can monitor the number of visits made each month and in total over the year.

 

 

Three of the questions

 

Q1 Firstly, I am going to read out some activities that you may have taken part in recently. For each one, can you tell me whether you personally have taken part in this activity in Britain within the past two weeks? So firstly, have you……[rotate activity list]…. on a stretch of inland water which is used by boats, for example a canal, river or lake.
1. Been on a boat with an engine
2. Been on a boat without an engine? Please
3. include activities such as canoeing, rowing boats and sailing boats
4. Been fishing
5. Been cycling
6. Walked a dog
7. Visited a specific attraction, heritage attraction or museum
8. Taken a walk or a ramble for leisure
9. Taken a run or jog for leisure
10. Used or walked along only in order to get somewhere else? For example, to get to work or to go shopping
11. Bought food or drink in a pub
12. Just sat or stood by the water as a break in the day to relax (always penultimate activity)
13. Used or visited for some other purpose? (SPECIFY)

Q2. [For each activity at Q1] On how many days in the past two weeks have you personally……[read out activity]….on a stretch of inland water used by boats, for example, a river, canal or lake in Britain?
WRITE IN NUMBER OF DAYS BETWEEN 1 AND 14.

Q3. [For each activity at Q1] And thinking about the last day you have……[read out activity]….which river, canal or lake did you do this on?
RECORD ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
a) Name of Waterway (if known):
b) Nearest Town / Village:
c) Name of County:

 

 

 

 

In March this year the new RFQ for undertaking the survey has gone out to tender - 

 

England's Waterways Visitor Survey

Marketing Birmingham Ltd has announced on 08 Mar 2018 that is accepting bids for the following project: England's Waterways Visitor Survey.

The tender will take place in United Kingdom and will cover the Consumer Goods & Services industry.

The value of this project has not been disclosed by the donor and you can apply until Deadline date

After the deadline, Global Database will announce the contract award for England's Waterways Visitor Survey. In order to stay up-to-date with this tender and also to receive daily notifications about similar projects, you can subscribe to our newsletter for free.

 

The target markets are repeat visitors of 45-65 years of age, easy outdoor adventurers and mature experience seekers. This project is funded by Visit Britain / Visit England's 'Discover England' programme, which seeks to broaden the reach of international visitors to England through introduction to new markets and development of bookable, commissionable product. It is match funded by project partners.

Lot 1: Survey A survey of customers who purchase the packages marketed as part of the project (e.g. narrow boating, walking and cycling, wider year round activity such as cultural short breaks) is required.

Lot 2: Qualitative Research Further in-depth, qualitative research with a sub-set of survey participants is required to further understand their motivations to visit and to purchase, satisfaction with their experience, booking behaviour and reaction to media and marketing activity. We will require research to take place with a representative cross section of customers (i.e. by type of package purchased, source market, demographics). Again we are happy to consider different possible methodologies (i.e. depth interviews, focus groups).

Lot 3: Economic Impact Evaluation An evaluation of the economic impact of the England's Waterways Project is required. This should include direct impact and multiplier effects, and the numbers of jobs supported both directly and indirectly by the project.

 

All suppliers must visit our e-Procurement system (In-Tend) to register and submit the tender. https://in-tendhost.co.uk/marketingbirmingham/aspx/Home

Edited May 22, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[rusty69]

22 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

 

Like the new CRT logo, there are some things you just can't un-seen

 

 

 

No no no no no. You've just killed steamboat willie! 

[Tumshie]

Just now, rusty69 said:

No no no no no. You've just killed steamboat willie! 

Ooops! 

 

Nah, it just his toupee.  

[MtB]

3 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Don’t be ridiculous!

 

Well you started it!

[nicknorman]

33 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Well you started it!

Oh no I didn’t!

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Oh no I didn’t!

 

Like I said, you never admit you're wrong.

 

Gotcha!

[nicknorman]

10 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Like I said, you never admit you're wrong.

 

Gotcha!

I always admit I am wrong when I am wrong. It's just that it doesn't happen often and so you are excused for missing it. I think the last time might have been in 1974.

Edited May 22, 2018 by nicknorman

[MtB]

10 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I always admit I am wrong when I am wrong. It's just that it doesn't happen often and so you are excused for missing it. I think the last time might have been in 1974.

 

Oi, that's my joke. You got that from moi!

 

Thing is, I thought I made a mistake in 1974 but it turns out I didn't, so I was wrong and I was right after all....

 

Errrr..... 

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I always admit I am wrong when I am wrong. It's just that it doesn't happen often and so you are excused for missing it. I think the last time might have been in 1974.

Depends upon which forum you are talking about.

[nicknorman]

1 minute ago, MJG said:

Depends upon which forum you are talking about.

Surely there is only one?

[MtB]

1 minute ago, nicknorman said:

Surely there is only one?

 

One forum, one beer garden obvs

 

[Guest]

Just seen this and then went to look at the website...

 

MY EYES!!! ?

 

Someone needs to take the crayons from their "designer".

 

It is much much worse than I thought it was going to be. I acknowledge I was giving them the benefit of the doubt in another thread and I was wrong to do so. Awful, just awful.

[MtB]

7 minutes ago, welly said:

Just seen this and then went to look at the website...

 

MY EYES!!! ?

 

Someone needs to take the crayons from their "designer".

 

It is much much worse than I thought it was going to be. I acknowledge I was giving them the benefit of the doubt in another thread and I was wrong to do so. Awful, just awful.

 

What website?

 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

What website?

 

I suspect welly strayed into the boat of thunder...

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, MJG said:

I suspect welly strayed into the boat of thunder...

 

Oh that. 

[Alan de Enfield]

7 hours ago, welly said:

Just seen this and then went to look at the website...

 

MY EYES!!! ?

 

Someone needs to take the crayons from their "designer".

 

It is much much worse than I thought it was going to be. I acknowledge I was giving them the benefit of the doubt in another thread and I was wrong to do so. Awful, just awful.

 

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

What website?

 

Shirley the reference to the 'designer' and the fact this is a thread about C&RTs new logo, would suggest Welly has been onto the C&RT website rather than Thunderboats.

[nicknorman]

One does have to wonder how existing “friends” feel about their donations going to fund a fairly pointless rebranding exercise. The logo is perhaps more “modern” but why would you want a “modern” logo to represent a 250 year old thing that is being sold on its historical and traditional attributes?

[MtB]

1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

One does have to wonder how existing “friends” feel about their donations going to fund a fairly pointless rebranding exercise. The logo is perhaps more “modern” but why would you want a “modern” logo to represent a 250 year old thing that is being sold on its historical and traditional attributes?

 

Has thunderboat resigned their logo too then? I hadn't realised the forum was that old!

 

 

Edited May 23, 2018 by Mike the Boilerman

[Tumshie]

9 hours ago, welly said:

Just seen this and then went to look at the website...

 

MY EYES!!! ?

 

Someone needs to take the crayons from their "designer".

 

It is much much worse than I thought it was going to be. I acknowledge I was giving them the benefit of the doubt in another thread and I was wrong to do so. Awful, just awful.

I couldn't agree more - That migraine inducing jazz hands blue is murder on my dyslexia.  ?

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

What website?

 

CRT website!

 

 

He looks as miserable about the new branding as the rest of us.

 

[Proper Charlie]

Regarding these visits that CaRT log, do they differentiate between different sorts of visits and their duration? Surely my 24-hour day on the water on my boat should carry many times more weight than an office worker who has a quick cuppa in a cafe in sight of a canal. Or do they each count as one visit?

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, welly said:

CRT website!

 

He looks as miserable about the new branding as the rest of us.

 

...and looks even more like Phil Mitchell in that shot. Perhaps he's sad about the lack of Grants.

[Tumshie]

19 hours ago, Athy said:

Boats and boaters were heavily featured in the video throughout, but I agree that not very much was said about them.

 

Since when has Phil Mitchell worked for CART? I suppose he's responsible for chasing non-payers.

 

5 minutes ago, welly said:

CRT website!

He looks as miserable about the new branding as the rest of us.

He looks very miserable and rather frightening.

 

I can imagine him on the side of the canal Barking at people - 

"You will sit down beside that canal, you will enjoy your self and you will feel better before you go home - now, get on with it."