South: Your comments on the latest programme...

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We asked you to come up with a slogan for the South, or just for the part of it you live in. Here are some of your suggestions: The NEW forest - try something NEW today!
Anon

Iow Isle of wonder
M Cheeseman, Reading

Visit the South, because it's grim up North!
Anon

Get your holiday right come to the iow
Len Woolcock

South Coast - Look no further!
Anon

Isle of Wight - Isle of Delight
Susan Fry

Visit Southampton, with our world renowned lack of culture and quality of street crime you ll be amazed your still in Hampshire!
James, Southampton

Come explore our diamond Its a gem of a place the Isle of Wight
Anon

Do we brits really like tourist i think not
Colin, Salisbury

The best part of the world.
Steve, Reading.

Go abroad. Go to the Isle of Wight
Anon

South Coast - Look no further!
Jo Barnard in Southampton

Heaven on Earth, God s Country or Paradise Found
Sam, Aylesbury

The Isle of Wight is the best place to live why go any where else
Tom Morris

The island is totally car dominated. It is not an eco island.
Jane, Ventnor

Hi - they call the island the jewel of the south because it cost's the crown jewels to use the ferry!
John Caws, Newport

Holiday in the UK (and pay the highest prices in Europe)
Anon

The South Coast¿what an adventure
Gill Yaxley, Portsmouth

The Isle of Wight. Britain's isle of sunshine!
Geoffrey Brooking, Southsea

Ferry across the Solent no passport required
Colin, Salisbury

Come to the Soothing South. The sunshine & lovely walks are free!
Adrian Ould, Isle of Wight

Unfortunately tourist are a neccessary evil
Anon

Slogan for the South - just 'Southern comforts'
Lauren, Reading

Like the whole of the South, Oxford is already swamped with commuters, tourists, students, visitors and itinerants. All prices are ridiculous, the crowds are suffocating, and the queues are unbearable. Please go somewhere else - I understand they're very friendly up North.
Pete

Best slogan for me would be 'Stay where you are, we don't want you in Dorset'
Terry Fowler

Other comments

And quite a few of you had strong views on the price of the ferry crossing to the Isle of Wight:

Its so expensive getting to IOW on the ferries for a family of 5, if it was cheaper I would be interested visiting
Mo, Bournemouth

The iow might b the jewel of the south but its no good thinking up a slogan when it costs so much 2 get there they should look at reducing the ferry price
Les, Southampton

Ferry prices are too high for us so we go to Weymouth
Pat Stewart, Buckingham

Too expensive to reach island. Day trip ferry cost as much as £95 for 2 adults & car mid week June/early July.
Martin, Southampton

Its the ferry, plain and simple.
Adrian

Other industries pay their own advertising costs - why shouldn't people in the tourist industry?
Chris

I live on the Isle of Wight and it is being ruined by over development, too many people and a very poor road system and quality. During the holiday season and Cowes week and the music festival they pull out all the stops for the tourists, at the cost of the people who live here. The Isle of Wight council couldn't run a pre-school party!
Anon

Nothing they do to promote the island will help while the council are letting developers run riot knocking down house s to build flats. More so in our rural areas, tourist won't have much to look at other than building sites!
Wendy, Totland

Think tourists have cash but limited time so we have to make things easy for them
Anon

The market research I conducted for a live events promoter based in Oxforshire last year shows (amongst other things) that travel distance is key to the success of tourist attractions. The average round trip family car journey to an attraction is 2 hours and the average stay is about 3.5 hours. So it's hardly surprising that Oxfordshire and many of the attractions south of the M4 corridor appear to do less well than, say, those nearer to big cities (eg Alton Towers).

For me, what is most important is that those investing in outdoor events and attractions in this region take a sensible approach to understanding the market conditions. Otherwise businesses can lose lots of money by expecting the impossible.

For better or worse, the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire/Hampshire/Dorset area cannot expect massive tourist day trip activity - unless to highly branded events.
Ian Busby, Oxfordshire

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