Aim The aim of the IRU Coach Friendly City Award (“City Trophy”) is to recognise and reward municipal authorities that implement policies favouring group tourism by coach, and to encourage other cities to follow their example. Cities that invest in good facilities for coaches will reap economic rewards, while those that fail to do so will limit their income from tourism. Who can compete for the “City Trophy”? Every two years, each Member Association of the IRU Passenger Transport Council (CTP) and partner organisations, in particular Smart Move Partners, may submit as a “City Trophy” candidate the municipal government of any one city that has, in their view, implemented policies that particularly favour coach tourism. Municipal governments can also submit spontaneous applications. The “City Trophy” may not be awarded to any single municipal government more than once every five years. What are the benefits of competing? Obviously, the most important benefit for municipal governments which implement coach-friendly policies is the resulting increase in the number of tourists visiting their city and in tourist spending. Municipal governments which document their coach-friendly policies and the economic results will not only be able to compete for the “City Trophy”, they will also have the information needed to explain and justify their policies to their electorates and other interested parties.
The winning municipal government will receive an attractive “City Trophy”, presented publicly by the IRU President at an international event. The winner and all competing candidates will benefit from an extensive IRU and other partners’ promotion, including through the Smart Move Partners’ network.
The “City Trophy”, indicating the year in which the award was presented, will be the property of the winning municipal government, to keep and display. The winning municipal government will also have the right to use the “City Trophy” Award logo, indicating the year in which the award was presented. The name and policies of the winning city will be promoted by the IRU, its Member Associations and Smart Move Partners. The winning city will receive round-trip tickets and accommodation for two persons for two nights to allow their participation in the award ceremony. How to compete Candidates for the “City Trophy” will need to prepare a dossier in English containing evidence which shows the jury the measures they have adopted and the resulting real benefits to their city: - A coherent strategy for integrating high-quality group tourism with other interests.
- Consultation with interested parties, including the coach tourism industry.
- Clear instructions and signs for visiting coach drivers, including in foreign languages.
- Details of coach tourism facilities, such as:
- Adequate capacity (e.g. coach parking places, unloading areas, etc.),
- Fair and transparent mechanisms for managing scarce resources,
- Proximity to key tourist sites and hotels,
- Special facilitation measures for access to city centres (e.g. use of bus lanes, traffic priorities and rules, etc.),
- Quality of facilities provided (e.g. amenities for waiting drivers; coach care facilities; safety of passengers, drivers and vehicles; pedestrian crossings; shelters; ramps for wheelchairs, etc.). - Increase in visitor satisfaction, measured by surveys.
- Increased numbers of visitors.
- Data quantifying costs and benefits of measures implemented.
- Effective communications to gain residents’ understanding and support.
- Innovative solutions to resolve problems or conflicts of interest.
Candidate dossiers should be submitted: - Physically to the following address: IRU Permanent Delegation to the EU, 32-34 av. de Tervueren, Box 17, 1040 Brussels, Belgium (for the attention of Oleg Kamberski) with “City Trophy” clearly marked on the envelope or
- Electronically as an email attachment to oleg.kamberski@iru.org mentioning “IRU City Trophy Award 2017” in the email subject or
- Electronically via this submission form.
Each dossier should state the name, title, address, telephone, fax and e-mail of a contact person, both in the municipal government concerned and in the association which submits the dossier. The deadline for submission is 30 June 2017. The “City trophy” will be awarded at an appropriate event in the second half of the same year. Jury Candidates’ dossiers will be evaluated and ranked by an international jury, which includes senior representatives of organisations representing municipal governments, the tourism industry and professional road transport. Evaluation procedure After nomination, the international jury will meet at least once in September to evaluate the candidate dossiers submitted to IRU. Should the need arise, the jury is empowered to determine two winning entries and two runner-ups depending on the size of the city. The jury may request additional information from the municipal governments of candidate cities before making its decision. The jury will award the “City Trophy” to the city whose dossier credibly shows the best results obtained, in relation to the coach-friendly policies implemented. Contacts IRU Permanent Delegation to the European Union, Attn: Oleg Kamberski, Avenue de Tervueren, 32-34, Bte 37, B–1040 Brussels, Tel: +32-2-743 25 80, Fax: +32-2-743 25 99, E-mail: oleg.kamberski@iru.org. |
