Two popular Shrewsbury tourism businesses, which bring thousands of visitors to the ‘Town of Flowers” every year, have teamed up to provide an attractive package for coach groups.
The Sabrina Boat, which provides 45-minute cruises seven days a week on the River Severn as well as private hire and themed events throughout the season, is working with award winning caravan dealership Salop Leisure at Emstrey to offer coach groups an interesting day out.
Following their River Severn cruise with a live commentary of town’s history and places of interest, coach groups are offered a package that includes afternoon tea at Salop Leisure’s Love Coffee restaurant and a visit to the on-site Love Plants specialist plants centre, caravan and motorhome saleroom and holiday home village.
Twenty-five groups have already booked the package with the Sabrina Boat, which runs from March 1 to October 31.
Sabrina Tours Ltd’s office manager Mark Hooper, who has a coach company background, said he had contacted individual coach companies across the UK last year to offer the service of Sabrina Boat. To get them to return in the future, he realised that he needed to put together an attractive package for day visits.
Being able to leave the town centre before traffic rush hour is a must for coach drivers and Salop Leisure’s headquarters on the edge of town at Emstrey, alongside the town’s bypass, makes it an ideal location for coach groups, particularly as it has lots of parking space.
“Salop Leisure’s Love Coffee restaurant and the Love Plants garden centre provide a good attraction in an absolutely ideal location,” said Mr Hooper. “We are delighted that Salop Leisure is keen to work with us to provide an attractive package for coach groups.
“The more businesses that we can team up with in the town, the better it will be for everybody. Tourism in Shrewsbury is going through the roof and we have an average of 1,200 people a week on Sabrina Boat cruises during the season.”
Salop Leisure’s chairman Tony Bywater congratulated Sabrina Tours on its initiative and said his company was delighted to contribute towards an attractive package for coach groups visiting the town.
“This is an excellent example of two of Shrewsbury’s most popular tourist attractions working together to attract more visitors to our beautiful town,” he added. “We look forward to working closely with Sabrina Tours to ensure that coach parties have a great experience when they visit Shrewsbury.”