Invitation to Tender for Survey of the Quality Of Visitor Experience

Tenders are invited to conduct a visitor survey of a total of 22 of Forest Enterprise England’s (FEE) sites. The survey will: • Give us information on the quality of visitor experience at each site; • Use a set of standard questions so that the quality of visitor experience at each site can be scored, benchmarked and tracked over time. Background: The woodland estate managed by FEE covers more than 250,000 hectares. In England, around 16.4 million adults visit the estate each year. The use and enjoyment of woodlands can contribute to physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of visitors. Well-managed, welcoming woodlands provide an excellent setting for outdoor recreation such as walking, cycling and horse riding. The provision of a quality visitor experience will help to encourage both repeat and new visitors. The quality of visitor experience depends not only on the facilities provided at a site (notice boards, playgrounds, toilets, car park, walking trails), but also on the ‘sense of welcome’ that the woodland provides. Maintaining or improving the quality of experience at FEE managed sites is part of a wide-ranging programme of work to encourage the development and promotion of woodland access throughout England with suitable infrastructure and well managed woodlands that feel safe and welcoming. The objectives are to: • Finalise the methodology for the site surveys, liaising with FEE to determine the site-specific questions. The questionnaire will contain about 28 questions and should take no longer than 10 minutes for a respondent to complete; • Conduct surveys following agreed methodology at 22 sites across the 3 year period. Surveying at sites will begin in 2016 and end in 2018. Surveyors will normally be located at site entrances e.g. car parks; • Conduct surveys to cover the shoulder season and peak season at each site. ‘Shoulder season’ refers to March-May and September-October, where we would expect greatest visitor numbers at weekends and during the Easter and Bank holidays. ‘Peak season’ refers to June-August, when we would expect larger visitor numbers throughout the week; • Achieve 5,000 completed surveys over the course of the project. We are looking to obtain 250 completed surveys at each site, with a minimum of 175 surveys completed at sites with a lower number of visitors. • Hold quarterly meetings with FEE to discuss progress of the survey and necessary or recommended alterations to the methodology; • In February each year, provide FEE with a short summary report for each site including site scores, site specific recommendations, the raw data, details of the methodology & copies of questionnaires, and a presentation of the findings for the year.