Opportunity and challenge: new summer Sundays Edinburgh-Oban day train trip

Great news for Oban – and an opportunity that challenges Oban marketing group and Oban businesses to show what they’re made of.

ScotRail is launching a Sunday train service for day trippers to Oban direct from Edinburgh, Linlithgow and Polmont for a six week period this summer. It will give visitors five hours in Oban.

The service starts on 25th July and runs every Sunday up to and including 29th August. It has been welcomed by Councillor Dick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council leader and by VisitScotland, the national tourism agency.

Designed to appeal to people in Edinburgh and West Lothian who would love a day out to the famous town without having to take the car, this initiative makes the whole trip a carefree time out..

The fact that the new animated film, The Illusionist – which features Oban in glorious hand drawn animation sequences, has just opened the Edinburgh Film Festival to significant and favourable attention, will certainly fuel interest in Oban from that part of the east coast.

Graeme Macfarlan, ScotRail marketing manager, says that the move has come as a direct response to listening to customers – as well as from knowing that people are opting to holiday in the UK this year because of continuing uncertainty over air travel.

He says: ‘Many customers in the East of Scotland have told us they would love to experience the West Highland Line for a day out but would prefer not to change trains – and sometimes stations – at Glasgow.

‘This new, direct service changes all that and should boost tourism. And we’ll be offering cream teas on the scenic route, which really is the icing on the cake of a special day out’.

Dick Walsh says: ‘We are very proud of what Oban and the surrounding area has to offer. However, it is a long way in the car from Edinburgh just for the day.

‘Being able to make the journey by train will make an enormous difference. The scenery on the trip is some of the most spectacular in Scotland, and that’s before the passengers even get to Oban, which has to count among the country’s most attractive seaside towns.

‘We’re delighted by this news from ScotRail, and look forward to welcoming our guests from the East of Scotland when the service starts next month. I hope that once they’ve experienced what’s on offer in Oban, they will make plans to return and spend more time exploring the many other outstanding areas of Argyll and Bute in the future’.

David Adams McGilp, VisitScotland’s regional director in Argyll says: ‘We’ve just launched a £250,000 campaign specifically encouraging Scots to take holidays in their own country, so expanding train services to accommodate the needs of the day trip market fits very well with this.

‘There are lots of things to do within walking distance of Oban station for families and individuals alike, not least taking in the panoramic views from McCaig’s Folly, the open air platform on top of the hill behind Oban’.

The challenge for Oban’s marketing group

This is a challenge for the Oban marketing group, which has just over a month to crank up a specific campaign aimed at the passengers this train will ferry to the town.

The experience should start with the train. Why not have an Oban or Argyll team on the platform at Waverley in Edinburgh, welcoming people to the train, giving them rich word-of-mouth  information about the town as well as printed material.

The same group would travel on the train, talking to people, telling them what to look out for on the journey:

• Loch Lomond and the National Park
• the Arrochar Alps
• Glen Lochy
• Loch Awe and Kilchurn Castle
• Cruachan Power Station, Robert the Bruce and the Pass of Brander
• Taynuilt, Lord Nelson, the Bonawe Iron Works, boat trips up to Glen Etive
• Kayaking on the Falls of Lora

This team on the train would find out about the people choosing to take the trip to Oban -  whether they have ever been to Oban before – because there will be nostalgic day visitors – or whether this is a first exploration; ask what they’re interested in – and point them at places where they might find it; and suggest some genuinely special opportunities, with the phone numbers to ring to book in advance.

Tourism operators in, near and accessible from Oban could set up opportunities to cater for this audience, to be marketed on the train with bookings made en route. The entrepreneurial Coastal Connections could certainly come up with something.

Imagine…

• a Hebridean Airways special round trip out to the islands
• a Loch Lomond Seaplanes return to Tobermory
• a LORN local food and craft producers Sunday market in Station Square
• a minibus service from the station out to the Rare Breeds Farm outside Oban
• a boat trip across Oban Bay to a pipers picnic on Kerrera

Imagination, a sense of fun, a willingness to hit this opportunity hard, conquer deadlines and make the exotic, the unexpected and the unique happen … these will lift this gift to a level where it can not only help Oban effectively but help to make Argyll and the Isles the destination of choice.

If Oban businesses have what it takes to meet this chance head on, they can make the day trip to the west coast a cult thing to do – and to plan to do.

If Oban wants to succeed, it has to be special. It can’t just sit there and let people wander off the train and around the town. It has to make a buzz, to include other Argyll areas in that buzz to widen the attraction of which it is a part, to make real connections with these visitors, to make them insiders, to make sure they have the sort of day with the sort of attention and charm, insights and excitement they’ve never had anywhere before. And then it can watch the word of mouth marketing take root.

This is a very specific service and a rare opportunity that will not be repeated if it doesn’t do the business. If it gets the fuel to make it a space shot, the potential is immense.

The details of the service

The train will leave Edinburgh Waverley at 8.10am and arrive back in the capital at 9.07pm.

The Oban departures are from Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket, Linlithgow and Polmont only. The fare will be £30 return or £20 single, with children going half price.

Tickets are available only by telephoning ScotRail Telesales on 08457 55 00 33.  Seating will be on a first come first served basis.  No other ticket offers or discount card can be used in conjunction with this ticket.

Jim Mather welcomes the initiative

Argyll’s MSP, Jim Mather, is delighted at this development, saying: ‘This is a very welcome announcement giving as it does the opportunity for people from Edinburgh and West Lothian to have a day out in Oban.

‘VisitScotland has just set up a campaign encouraging Scots to holiday in their own country so expanding this option is very welcome and it might also attract tourists to Edinburgh looking for a change of scene and a different view of Scotland .

‘There are lots of things to do in  Oban for families and individuals alike, like  taking in the panoramic views from McCaig’s Tower, the open air platform on the hill above Oban or exploring the variety of eating options along the sea front.

‘Oban is promoting itself as the Seafood Capital of Scotland and the selection of freshly caught fish and shellfish available is there for all to see.’