I have been to Bournemouth for 11 days every summer for the last 18 years. People never fail to ask me how I don’t get bored with visiting the same place each year, and I just tell them it’s really easy. Bournemouth has so much to offer, with the seaside, the gardens and amusements being exploited to entice tourists to the resort. If anything, the town is guilty of over-selling it’s “seven miles of golden sands”, but with it being their prize asset, why not milk it for all it’s worth? To reflect its marketability Bournemouth receives well over a million tourists to the seaside town each year. This makes it not just one of the most popular places to visit in South England, but the whole of the country.
Not only that, but Bournemouth is also situated very close to other popular holiday destinations such as Weymouth, Winchester and Swanage. To top it all off, some of nature’s finest attractions are also only a stones throw away, with Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door attracting a consistently high number of people. The “Monte Carlo of England”, Sandbanks, is also down the road, even if people do go there to envy the lavish houses, and wonder how anyone can afford £10 million for what is essentially, a house with a sea view.
However, I feel all is not rosy with this juggernaut of tourism. There has been worrying trend where Bournemouth has become more student-orientated. This has had a detrimental effect on families, which are Bournemouth’s main target audience in terms of tourism. Although I was recently a student and probably would have taken full advantage of the extra clubs and bars dotted around the town, I can’t help but realise that families and tourists alike are losing out when they come to visit.
Over the last four or five years there has been a decline in the services that Bournemouth offers its tourists, while opening hours seem to get shorter year upon year. Although this will appear oblivious to newcomers to the town, for hardcore Bournemouth holidayers like myself, this can only be a worrying trait. What will Bournemouth be like in another five years? I mean, it will always have its prize asset, but if the services that supplement the beach become even more limited, will the families still come flocking?
For instance, a few years ago the amusement arcades used to be open as late as midnight, as well as the crazy golf that is situated right outside our hotel in the gardens. However, if you attempt to go in them now, you are often politely asked to leave around 10pm, and even 9pm on some nights! What’s worse is that this is occurring on the August bank holiday weekend, which should be a massive money maker for the town. Consequently, I find it criminal for these places to be shutting earlier than usual. More shockingly, the deck chairs were being packed away before Bank Holiday Monday had come around! God knows how many day-trippers were standing on the promenade clueless as to why these deck chairs had been chained up.
One thing the council has acknowledged though is that Bournemouth desperately needs an all-weather attraction, something that will extinguish boredom on a rainy day. Even though the Oceanarium and the cinemas are extremely popular in wet weather, they are the main two activities people resort to when the heavens open. As a result of them being fit to burst, people just get wet by queuing outside for it anyway. The council are going to tackle this issue by redeveloping the very controversial ‘Waterfront’ building. In the past it used to be a swimming pool that was exceptionally well used, and when it was demolished in 1998, there have been calls to bring it back ever since. These calls became significantly louder as it became apparent that its main replacement, the IMAX theatre, struggled in its three years of existence before it’s closure in 2005.
When I was there a couple of weeks ago, families upon families came into the ‘Waterfront’ attempting to visit the now derelict IMAX, and was stunned to find it empty. I was even more stunned that the council hadn’t put anything more than a tiny note saying it had “ceased operation in 2005”, effectively deceiving many people. I then proceeded to direct them all to the nearby Odeon and ABC cinemas, which I think are also poorly signposted. I most probably earned Odeon half their takings for that day actually!
The council took advantage of the current economic climate and bought the complex this year for half of the selling price two years ago, £15 million. Strangest thing is that one of the propositions for the site is a swimming baths, exactly what it was before, so they could have saved themselves all this hardship, time and money by leaving things the way they were! That seems to be the most popular choice with the public, but other options that have been discussed include a tropical house or a centre for performing arts. Whatever happens, I think what most residents will be most looking forward to is getting rid of such an eyesore, which for years has restricted views of what everyone has come to Bournemouth to see, the sea and the sand.
Another thing I noticed this year was that there is an alarming lack of variety of shows on offer in the BIC, the Pavilion and also at the Pier Theatre. To start with, there wasn’t much at all on during the summer period, but whatever was on, was mainly music tributes or below standard stage shows, with the exception of the evergreen ‘Mamma Mia!’ Don’t get me wrong, music tributes are good in their own right, but there are some people who don’t see the attraction of them, and so these theatres and arenas should be doing more to cater for a larger audience.
Anyway, I can’t complain too much, I do go there every year, and I plan on going again in 2011. However if nothing gets done about the Waterfront, the ever declining opening times for services, or the poor array of theatre shows on offer, then surely Bournemouth is nowhere maximising its potential to be the biggest seaside resort in Britain.
Bournemouth will always have one of the most marketable beaches in the country, but most families will want other things to do, activities that possibly go late on into the evening. As everything seems to close around dusk, no-one wants to go to bed at 9pm when they’re on holiday do they?! Maybe the council know that the tourists will always come their way no matter what? In my opinion they should be making more of an effort to make Bournemouth an enjoyable resort not just for tourists, but the permanent residents of the area too.
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