Love Looe campaign
Teaming up with local tourism businesses to deliver record patronage on the Looe Valley Line
The Love Looe campaign brought together local tourism businesses to raise the profile of Looe, following negative coverage of the area in 2012/2013 due to flooding, road closures and landslides.
The campaign was the brainchild of local businesswoman Gill Bridges of The Polraen Hotel at Sandplace station. The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership helped to make it a reality through:
- a six-week long series of promotional features in the Western Morning News. Businesses were asked to run adverts to support the feature at a cost of £55 per advert
- a competition to win tickets (supplied by Great Western Railway) to travel to Looe by train and stay at The Polraen for two nights and eat at a local restaurant
- social media activity including a Love Looe Facebook page and Twitter account – with both still going strong today
- 55,000 leaflets distributed throughout Devon and Cornwall via local campsites, supermarkets, tourist information centres, pubs, restaurants and tourist attractions
- development of a ‘Love Looe’ logo, used on window stickers by local shops, and on banners at local events
Record patronage
The campaign had a big impact. Patronage on the Looe Valley Line for June and July 2013 was the highest on record. June 2013 was 34% higher than June 2012 and July 2013 was 64% higher than July 2012. In total roughly 10,000 extra journeys were made on the Looe Valley Line in June and July 2013.