Kortrijk, 18 October 2007

Chester wins IRU City Trophy

Kortrijk (Belgium) – The International Road Transport Union (IRU) is pleased to announce that the City of Chester (UK) was today awarded with the IRU City Trophy 2007 during the 18th Busworld Exhibition opening ceremony. This IRU Award, endorsed by prestigious international organisations*, recognises and rewards cities which implement policies that favour coach tourism and boost tourism by investing in facilities to improve access to cities for coaches.

Handing the award to Lord Mayor of Chester, Jim Latham, Francesco Pacifico, the President of the IRU Passenger Transport Council, declared: "For many years, the City of Chester has been consistently implementing a long term Coach Management Policy covering all aspects of coach tourism. This Award recognises Chester’s long-term political commitment to implement an efficient and business-friendly strategy, which should serve as a model for other major tourist destinations around the globe.”

Considering the tremendous benefit of coach tourism for the local economy, the City of Chester recognised the need to facilitate its access to tourists and has worked out, in close partnership with stakeholders from the tourist and coach business, a comprehensive and forward-looking Coach Management Policy, which today results in one in every four visitors reaching the city by coach.

Lord Mayor of Chester, Jim Latham, explained, “The City of Chester’s coach policy has been developed in line with the English Historic Towns Forum’s Code of Practice for Coach-based tourism. It was created in co-operation with the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (in 2002) and recognises the responsibilities of public and private bodies. It has developed a comprehensive consultation framework with the coach industry, including tariffs, signposting and dissemination of information, along with steady investments in coach tourism facilities. This long-term cooperative commitment has earned the City of Chester record levels of coach tourist visits, almost 2 million in 2004, and the IRU City Trophy!”

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Press contact: Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, Press@iru.org

*The IRU City Trophy 2007 Award Jury comprised: Dr. Dieter-Lebrecht Koch (MEP), Ms Karen Fischer (Hilton International & the International Hotel & Restaurant Association), Birger Bäckman (Senior Adviser, United Federation of Travel Agents Associations), Tom Jenkins (CEO, European Tour Operators Association), Carlos Romero (CEO, Affiliate Members, World Tourism Organisation), Dan Luca (Senior Public Relations Manager, EurActiv), Rob Franklin (Executive Director, European Travel Commission), Dr. Matthias Mohaupt (Head of Department, Transport Planning of the City of Dresden, IRU City Trophy 2005 Winner) and Yves Mannaerts (Director,Belgian Federation of Bus and Coach Operators and Travel Organisers).

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