Campaign to promote affordable, greener travel to Cumbria wins national award

• “Let’s go car free” wins Marketing Campaign of the Year at UK Bus Awards.
• Ran in partnership between Avanti West Coast, Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire and Cumbria Tourism.
• The campaign promoted affordable and greener travel to Lake District.

A campaign which promoted affordable, greener travel by public transport across Cumbria has won a top accolade at the UK Bus Awards.

The “Let’s go car free” scheme, which was set up by Avanti West Coast in partnership with Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire and Cumbria Tourism, won the ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ at the national awards.

The judges praised the green focus of the campaign by helping to support local Cumbria Tourism’s objectives to increase visitor numbers sustainably to the region.

The initiative, which ran from September 2023 until November this year, advertised Cumbria as a destination to visit, whilst encouraging tourists to have a more sustainable trip by leaving their cars at home.

It highlighted the ease of travel by rail to get to the tourist spot, as well as connectivity to local bus routes around the region. The campaign, which has seen an increase in visitors to the county, helped dispel the perception that it is difficult to get to the region by rail or bus, which was a finding from Cumbria Tourism’s independent research last year.

As part of the collaborative work between the three organisations, the Cumbrian town Keswick was also added to railway journey planners this summer so visitors could travel seamlessly across train and bus on a single integrated ticket.

Avanti West Coast are currently reviewing with Stagecoach Cumbria and Lancashire the feasibility of bringing the scheme back in the new year.

Avanti West Coast’s Head of Commercial Partnerships, Richard Wareing said: “This campaign had a huge positive impact for sustainable tourism to Cumbria and it is fantastic to see it recognised at the UK Bus Awards.

“Public transport plays such an important role in driving tourism growth across the regions we serve, so being able to come together with Stagecoach and Cumbria Tourism to attract new visitors to the Lake District has created a fantastic example of what collaborative working can achieve.”

Cumbria Tourism’s Managing Director, Gill Haigh said: “Let’s Go Car Free has shown that working in partnership with other businesses can prove to be particularly fruitful.  Encouraging visitors to travel to and around the county in a more sustainable way and ease traffic on our roads is a key ambition of our Destination Marketing Plan.  Avanti West Coast and Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire have helped us show just how easy and cost effective it is to enjoy Cumbria without a car.

“Earlier this year the partnership took a step further as Avanti announced a new virtual train station at Keswick, effortlessly linking both companies to provide a seamless ticketing service for passengers to book tickets that took them directly to Keswick via Penrith.”

Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire’s Managing Director, Tom Waterhouse said: “It was humbling to be recognised as part of a multi-operator marketing campaign at this year’s UK Bus Awards, gaining the gold for Marketing Campaign of the Year. As highlighted by the judges, working cross-sectionally in the transport industry is something rarely done, so to win an award for our work alongside Avanti was an accolade for both businesses.

“This campaign has not only emphasised the power of collaboration in the sector, but that thinking outside the box and working along the local tourism board is something we should focus on in the future to further strengthen the 'car free' messaging for visitors and residents in the national park.”

ENDS