New travel guides help boost Rochdale tourism

Places to go Rochdale cover

Tourism to the Rochdale district received a boost this summer following the success of a selection of new travel booklets.

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive has produced 300,000 copies of the 'Places to Go' guides which are available for free at GMPTE Travelshops across Greater Manchester. They are designed to encourage people to explore the whole of the county using public transport.

Fifteen booklets are currently available with each one providing detailed information about local walks, popular tourist attractions, places to visit and things to see as well as sections on planning a journey using public transport and on choosing and buying tickets.

The two guides which cover the Rochdale district - 'Exploring Rochdale, Healey Dell and local attractions' and 'Hollingworth Lake and the South Pennine foothills' - include features on St Chad's Parish Church, Healey Dell Nature Reserve and a lakeside walk from Littleborough rail station to Smithy Bridge rail station.

GMPTE Director Urvashi Bramwell said: "Greater Manchester has some fantastic tourist attractions from picturesque countryside walks to industrial history. We hope these booklets have made it much easier for people to explore the region using public transport.

"People are more likely to use a bus, train or tram if they feel confident about the service they need to use. The 'Places to Go' guides provide guidance about how to use public transport to reach popular locations.

"We've been delighted with the success of the booklets so far and hope they'll encourage many more people use public transport to visit places they've never been to before."

The publication of the guides follows the success of the free 'Connecting People with Places' pocket-sized booklet which is full of tips on using buses, trains and trams in Greater Manchester. It proved so popular that requests for it even came in from the USA and Europe.

GMPTE received excellent feedback about the 'Connecting People with Places' booklet but many people asked if separate guides could be produced giving details of places they could go so that they could put the information they had about public transport to good use.

20,000 copies of each version of the 'Places to Go' guides have been published so far but there are already plans to add to the range. A new booklet with discounts for popular attractions across Greater Manchester will be available from next month.

The free 'Places to Go' guides can also be ordered online at www.gmpte.com or by calling 0161 242 6040 (24 hour answer phone).