Whilst harbour dues and mooring charges for residents obviously provide the major part of the harbour\u2019s income, an important third comes from fees and charges to visiting yachts. What is more, as there is no real possibility of increasing the number of resident moorings, that element of revenue can be boosted only by general increases in charges.<\/p>\n
However, as far as visitors are concerned, there should be some possibility of increased revenue as the number of visitors has dropped consistently over the last few years.<\/p>\n
But nothing is ever simple. In the first place, the income from visitors is very weather-dependent. The last three years have produced two poor summers and, although last summer was good enough up to July, August (usually the best month for visitors) was very flat.<\/p>\n
So one\u2019s mind turns to marketing. The harbour has much to commend it and some unique features. Three big selling points are the lovely sandy beaches with clean, clear water, unrivalled by other south coast harbours; the fact that the harbour is picture-postcard rural with no commercial trade or industry; and Salcombe is an hour\u2019s sailing time nearer France than either Dartmouth or Plymouth. The downsides are that the harbour gets uncomfortably busy in the peak months; there are no marina facilities; and the ever-present risk of getting rocked about and disturbed by motor boats going too fast past moored yachts (but we are trying to do something about that).<\/p>\n
Marketing the harbour has therefore to perform a trick: it must increase the number of visitors, but only in the shoulder seasons. Promoting the harbour in the peak season will only aggravate the level of overcrowding, swell the number of yachts rafted alongside each other on the same swinging mooring (which people often don\u2019t like, but is unavoidable for much of August) and result in more people not having a quality experience of Salcombe.<\/p>\n
However, we have made some progress: the fees and charges for visitors have been held for three years and Salcombe is now no longer significantly more expensive than other harbours. Second, there have been a number of \u2018offers\u2019 whereby spending a few days in the peak season qualifies visitors for some free, or reduced-price, days off-peak. It is good for both the harbour and the towns around the harbour to extend the season as much as possible. That is the task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whilst harbour dues and mooring charges for residents obviously provide the major part of the harbour\u2019s income, an important third comes from fees and charges to visiting yachts. What is more, as there is no real possibility of increasing the number of resident moorings, that element of revenue can be boosted only by general increases in charges. However, as far as visitors are concerned, there should be some possibility of increased revenue as the number of visitors has dropped consistently…<\/p>\n