Best Practice - Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine A multi-award winning visitor attraction, closed as a working mine in 1990, Geevor is now a preserved mining site and museum.

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Geevor Tin Mine A multi-award winning visitor attraction, closed as a working mine in 1990, Geevor is now a preserved mining site and museum.

Setting the scene Geevor Tin Mine is a multiaward winning visitor attraction in Pendeen, Cornwall. Closed as a working mine in 1990, it is now a preserved mining site and museum managed by Pendeen Community Heritage. Rated highly by reviewers on TripAdvisor, the attraction has doubled its visitor numbers in recent years and now employs 24 members of staff on a permanent basis. Its ambition to position itself at the heart of the

community, has won much support and the attraction makes a considerable contribution to the local economy.

From the outset Geevor Tin Mine quickly identified its target market and dual function as a visitor attraction and centre for excellence in heritage education.

It set about identifying what its customers wanted and created a state-of-the-art interactive

museum which even attracts visitors with little interest in mining.

Faced by challenges associated with its location off the tourist beaten track, year-round opening and sustaining its staff, Geevor has successfully transformed an industrial site into a thriving visitor attraction rooted in community, heritage and education.

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Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

Background Once the decision was made to close the Geevor Tin Mine in 1990 and switch the underground pumps off, it began to flood and the receivers arrived to dismantle the site. This raised much concern amongst the community, as if allowed to continue, within a short period of time there would be nothing left of the mine and any potential to reopen it would be lost.

With growing pressure locally, Cornwall County Council eventually purchased the mine in 1992. A team of largely ex-employees worked over the winter months to get the site into a state that could be utilised and a museum was opened in August 1993. The hope from the Council’s perspective was that in the future, with an increase in tin prices, the mine might reopen; this however never came to fruition.

A local charity - Pendeen Community Heritage - was formed in 2000 by people who had an interest in the mine or who had worked there in the past, with the aim of securing the contract to operate the site. Within six months, the charity was awarded this right by Cornwall County Council for a period of three years and more recently in 2014, the contract has been extended for another ten years.

Set in stunning scenery on the Cornish coast, Geevor is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape - a World Heritage Site - and was recognised by UNESCO in 2006. A key site for Historic England Geevor is the last complete tin mine in Europe and stands as a reminder of Cornwall and West Devon’s stature as a major producer of tin and copper over the centuries.

The site is overseen by a Mine Manager, a statutory requirement as it is still classified as a working mine under the terms ‘tourist mine,’ defined as such because visitors are taken underground.

By its own admission, the attraction is very much ‘what you see is what you get.’ It is a typical mine site - the old mine offices have been turned into the reception, visitors are given a hard hat to wear before exploring buildings containing machinery including electrical and steam winders, compressor houses and processing plants. After visiting the museum, which explains the history of Cornish mining, visitors are able to go underground into late 18th century mine workings rediscovered in 1995 and experience a real mine first hand with an expert guide.

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Approach

KNOW YOUR MARKET Understanding its market is critical for Geevor Tin Mine; getting people interacting and engaging with the attraction is vital to keep visitors, particularly families, interested, encouraging them to stay longer and return. A significant lottery bid was awarded to Geevor Tin Mine and Cornwall County Council in 2007/8, and as well as preserving many of its buildings, Geevor created a state-of-the-art mining museum enabling visitors to appreciate and interact with the history of Cornish mining. All the interpretations on site have been devised by Geevor personnel with its visitors in mind.

Learning from customer surveys, visitor comment books and conversations with the attraction’s guides, Geevor understands what its visitors are looking for and modifies and develops its offer accordingly. The attraction still employs a number of the ex-miners, giving visitors a real flavour of what mining is about directly from those that were involved. Experience has taught that keeping that level of interest up using visuals, audio and activities is a recipe for success and something that is appreciated by visitors.

“You have got to have something to keep people interested, try to be interactive to get visitors involved.�

Recognising the importance of its family market, Geevor runs numerous events on site during the school holidays such as craft and jewellery workshops, poetry and storytelling, to engage people that may not even be interested in mining. The attraction continues its interaction with visitors through social media and has seen particular success with Facebook where it regularly shares photographs and comments from the mine.

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Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

UTILISE YOUR SITE FOR MULTIPLE FORMS OF BUSINESS From the early days, Pendeen Community Heritage realised that to focus solely on the core subject of mining was not going to sustain a successful attraction and therefore the site needed to be utilised for multiple forms of business.

Education was recognised as a crucial element, not just to diversify the attraction’s offer for visitors, but to satisfy external funders and secure its standing within the local community.

Schools and universities form an important part of the visitor profile at Geevor and the attraction’s education department offers activities for students from primary to university level.

Classroom workshops are provided for younger children, while guided tours of the site explaining the geology and mining process are popular for older age groups.

The use of the site for all forms of education has gone from strength to strength over the years and its importance as a centre for heritage is recognised by Cornwall Council who regularly consults with Geevor about education in the heritage sector. In 2007 Geevor Tin Mine received the Sandford Award for excellence in heritage education and was re-awarded this accolade in 2012.

“Using the site for multiple purposes is critical to sustaining the business.”

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“Awards and social recognition are good for business.”

RECOGNISE THE VALUE OF AWARDS AND SOCIAL RECOGNITION Following an inspection by the Cornwall Association of Tourist Attractions in 2010/11, Geevor Tin Mine was encouraged to enter the Cornwall Tourism Awards and has since gone on to enter and win numerous other industry accolades. The attraction recognises the importance of raising its profile and keeping its name in the media and views the awards as one of the best ways of achieving this. In addition, Geevor rates the importance of social recognition via the likes of Facebook or TripAdvisor just as highly, as this is generated directly from its visitors and is important for word-ofmouth recommendations.

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Results

100%

Increase in visitor numbers

2001

Present

20,000

38,000 - 40,000

Visitors

24

Visitors

Full and Part time staff, all of these positions are permanent!

A significant economic boost to the village of Pendeen

The CafĂŠ Franchised out to a local family, attracts

6,000 additional visitors a year

CONGRATULATIONS!!

A multi-award winning attraction

2015 Certificate of excellence 6

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Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

Challenges and lessons learnt

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION The biggest challenge the attraction faces is trying to convince people to visit in the first place. Located on the Cornwall coast between the popular tourist destinations of Land’s End, Penzance and St Ives and easily accessible from all, Geevor Tin Mine suffers from not being on the welltrodden tourist route and must work hard to divert people to the lesser known coastal road instead of bypassing via the main roads. The attraction knows from experience that once there, visitors realise it represents value-for-money and appreciate the experience of the mine together with the incredible scenery on the coast. However, traditionally there has been no significant marketing material to encourage visitors to explore the coast. The National Trust, which operates the nearby Levant Mine realises its unique location and the need to actively draw visitors to the area. It is hoped that this, together with the ‘Poldark effect’- the series having been filmed along the coast - will increase visitor numbers.

At a local level, Geevor has worked with Levant Mine for a number of years encouraging people to visit both sites with a 20% discount on entrance. This mutually beneficial arrangement is vital for business and extends the visitor stay and improves their experience as people can spend the whole day in the locality exploring the mines, scenery, nature trails, shop and café. This relationship was formalised recently with the installation of way-makers and a visitor map linking the sites.

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“Getting people to the area is a challenge - 10 miles away is Land’s End which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. On the other side is St Ives where about 2 million visitors go. We are located in between the two.”

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MAKING THE WINTER SEASON WORK As a key heritage site, Geevor Tin Mine has to remain open throughout the year, putting the attraction in a unique positon as the majority of tourist businesses along the Cornwall coast shut down in the off-season or operate at minimal staffing levels. With year-round costs, Geevor must continue to attract visitors in winter and places the emphasis very much on school visits and the local community. To support this initiative, the attraction hopes to invest in insulation for its classroom buildings so they are fit for purpose throughout the year.

SUSTAINING ITS STAFF Geevor Tin Mine employs 24 full and part-time staff, all of which are permanent, across seven departments including retail, finance, reception, curatorial and education. Quite often some of these employees are younger people who are studying locally and move onto new, better paid jobs once they complete their course. The attraction faces a challenge in that at present it does not offer a career path for local people and the prospect of increasing wages. As a result it has identified what it sees as an unsustainable model which could leave the business with a workforce increasingly reaching retirement age.

“We are obliged as a key centre of mining heritage to open throughout the year, whereas the majority of visitor attractions in Cornwall shut down or operate with skeleton staff.�

Geevor has compared itself to the National Coal Mining Museum at Wakefield - looking at staffing levels, visitor figures and pay structure. It found that team members at the National Coal Mining Museum were paid 70% more than those at Geevor. This is a challenge facing all businesses in remote locations across multiple sectors and there is no simple solution. One possible outcome is to provide a challenge that young staff may respond well to and see the career opportunity in a growing business. Having determined that Geevor meets the funding criteria the attraction and Cornwall Council will submit a further bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for funds to revamp its shop and cafe, creating the opportunity to increase income from retail and invest in the site to promote its long-term employability.

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Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

“We are not somewhere that young people will make a career out of at this stage.�

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Case Study: Geevor Tin Mine

Top tips 1.

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Get to know your visitors - understand what they want and need and respond accordingly.

Friendliness and welcome is vital - train staff to respect visitors and recognise their worth.

Bring your attraction to life - make it interactive and exciting for visitors, they will want to stay longer.

Partner up with other local attractions - consider opportunities for joint marketing and encourage visitors to explore multiple sites whilst in the area. This not only makes sense for business, but enriches the visitor experience and benefits the community as a whole.

Utilise your site in as many ways as possible – for example education, events, shop, cafÊ.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON GEEVOR TIN MINE Contact: Mike Simpson Email: manager@geevor.com Website: www.geevor.com

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