Tourism in Arransia

Historically, Arransia, with its cool, breezy climate and lack of both genuine wilderness and impressive man-made monuments, had little appeal to foreign tourists. In the late 19th century, with the introduction of paid holidays for industrial workers, a substantial amount of domestic tourism grew up, leading to the development of seaside resorts such as Sandscale, Skegg, Fleetby and Cleave, and the construction of a rack railway to the summit of Rawfell Pike, the country’s highest mountain. However, these attractions were of little appeal to foreign visitors, as Brunswick offered both warmer seas and higher mountains.

This situation continued well into the 20th century, and indeed the boom years of the late 1950s represented a high water mark for Arransia’s traditional resorts, with the construction of new funfairs and ballrooms that before too long would become white elephants. More significant for the future was that the rise in car ownership encouraged middle-class Arransians to start exploring their own country. A growing number of the country’s often rather hard-up hereditary nobility began opening their ancestral homes to the public, and the county and town councils started paying more attention to preserving and putting on show the variety of ruined castles that had ended up in their care. The 1950s AMA Touring Guide to Arransia conjures up this era very clearly.

In the 1960s this began to spread to visitors from Brunswick, who found Arransia’s quaintess and relaxed pace of life a refreshing contrast to their own country’s headlong rush for modernisation in that decade. They also found Arransians surprisingly friendly and hospitable provided they didn’t start gloating about the war or suggesting that the Battle of Ugglesby Head had been an insignificant skirmish. This was especially the case in the fertile rural county of Marchwood which was only a couple of hours’ drive north of the Tri-Cities. 1970 saw the designation of six National Parks in Arransia which were as much an attempt to boost tourism as to preserve unspoilt countryside.

However, as yet this was only a trickle, and other factors in the 1960s led to a dramatic decline in Arransian tourism. The fall in the cost of air travel made the sunny beaches of Esparta accessible to ordinary Arransians, and they started deserting Skegg and Fleetby in their droves. At the same time, the development of the Brunswickian trunkway network made the balmy south coast of Almeria reachable in a day’s drive, and more and more Arransians started heading that way, becoming a perennial source of frustration and amusement to the Brunswickians as they struggled to negotiate the Tri-Cities’ intimidating and complex road system, especially when towing a large caravan with a small underpowered car.

These trends, combined with the recession of the 1970s, dealt a devastating blow to Arransia’s traditional resorts, and by 1980 Skegg in particular had become a decaying ghost town. However, salvation came from an unexpected source – steam locomotives. The last working steam in Brunswick had been withdrawn in 1973 and Arransia had planned to follow suit by 1978. However, the recession at the same time cut funds for investment and eased the labour shortages that had helped drive conversion to diesel, and this date was at first put back and then, by the early 1980s, effectively indefinitely postponed. Steam working was confined to a relatively small area in Holburn and Teviot in the north-west of the country, but even so, by this time Arransia had become the only place in Sabrantia or the neighbouring countries where steam could be seen in daily service, and indeed often working very hard on steeply-graded lines. What had been a mere trickle of visitors in the early 1970s turned into a flood, and by the mid-1980s was having a measurable impact on the Arransian economy, concentrated in some of the country’s more run-down industrial areas.

Of course this helped encourage the perception that Arransia is a singularly grim and unappealing place, which is somewhat unfair. All that can be said is that traditional heavy industries play more of a role in the Arransian economy than that of Brunswick, they are highly concentrated in a belt from Stainton to Howick, and the Arransians have never seen the need to hide mines and steelworks away. Some of the earlier steam enthusiasts almost competed with each other to find the grottiest pub and most dismal town, but over time as they engaged more with the place perceptions began to change. It must also be said that canny businessmen in Teviot and Holburn began to play up to Brunswickians in search of the quirky and old-fashioned.

Teviot has numerous well-preserved historic towns and one of the greatest concentrations of castles and monuments in Arransia, and it wasn’t long before the steam enthusiasts realised there were other things to see in the area, particularly if they had wives and families with them. This fed through into a general boost to history-related tourism in Arransia, which increased more than fourfold between 1980 and 1995. This in turn led to a rise in interest in other things Arransia had to offer such as golf courses, salmon and trout fishing and rural leisure villages.

It is currently estimated that each year about 2.5 million people from Brunswick spend at least one night in Arransia for holiday or leisure reasons. It must be said, however, that they overwhelmingly come from the overlapping communities of steam railway enthusiasts and the liberal intelligentsia, and the average Brunswickian working man would not be seen dead in the place, while it equally does not appeal to those who like to brag about the exotic and far-flung locations they have visited.

Arransia has also become increasingly popular with visitors from Acadia – to where many Arransians emigrated in the 19th century – and Skania, with whom the Arransians share rather tenuous claims to common Viking ancestry. The somewhat moralistic and uptight Skanians seem to appreciate the more relaxed and less regimented approach to life that prevails in Arransia, and famously try to overload the return plane with duty-free booze.

A ro-ro ferry service started between Lemingore and Hållføss in 1996, taking 28 hours for an overnight crossing, and has proved surprisingly popular. This was originally operated in summer only by chartered vessels, but in 2000 a purpose-built ship, the 16,000-ton Barcaldine Castle, entered service with the Steam Packet Company and runs all year round. This of course caused a minor diplomatic row between Arransia and Skania, as all cars sold in Skania had to have permanently illuminated dipped headlights, whereas to use dipped headlights in good daylight conditions is specifically illegal in Arransia, and in the early days there were a large number of stops by the traffic police. Any Skanian drivers visiting Arransia had to have a switch fitted that was theoretically illegal in Skania, although in practice this could be done by an Arransian mechanic in ten minutes. The eventual result was a change in Skanian construction and use regulations to permit an isolation switch under the bonnet.

Arransia did not set up a national tourism board until 1988, but since then they have been very assiduous in promoting the country abroad. In particular they have succeeded in getting a substantial number of the country’s historic cities and monuments – such as the mediaeval walled city of Kirkbride and the hilltop citadel of Rocastle – recognised as World Heritage Sites. Indeed Arransia has more of these per head of population or per square mile than any other country.

In 1999 for the first time the ATB carried out a TV advertising campaign in Brunswick under the byline of “Arransia – Surprise Yourself”. This showed predictable images of ruined castles, heather-covered moors, towering seacliffs, spectacular sunsets and romantic candlelit dinners, and was obviously designed to counter the widespread perception of Arransia as grotty and grimy. But, equally predictably, it drew a response from a Brunswickian TV comedy show who put together a contrasting sequence of images of tat, dereliction, factory chimneys and toothless old blokes in shabby pubs with the slogan of “Arransia – Don’t Bother.” The discussion this provoked obviously played right into the Arransians’ hands, in prompting many Brunswickians to think that the place might be worth another look beyond the stereotype. An Arransian TV show countered with a set of images entitled “Brunswick – Bore Yourself” including, most memorably, a jammed twelve-lane highway slicing through a neighbourhood of tower blocks in the Tri-Cities with the commentary “Brunswick is a country that really shows a sensitive approach to the environment.” The controversy died down and subsequent campaigns have used a more thoughtful and subtle approach, and have often tended to feature tourist-friendly Arransians talking about things to do and see in the country, from ancestral castles to golf courses.

Under the Bell government, a “Beautiful Arransia” initiative was launched which was a concerted effort to generally smarten the place up and in particular to address the Arransian tendency to accumulate collections of rusting vehicles and machinery on the grounds they might be needed in future. Local authorities were empowered to issue “Environmental Improvement Notices” against the worst offenders. Perhaps the area where this made most difference was in relation to ships. Virtually every harbour of any size featured at least one rusting coaster or trawler whose owners had put it in mothballs thinking they just might use it again, but in practice virtually never did. This drew some complaints from shipowners, one pointing out that in 1974 he had laid up a vessel built in 1957, which he had put back into service in 1993 and was still using now. However, the solution adopted of requiring all vessels over 100 tons, that had not been used for at least three years, to be berthed in three designated docks well away from the public view at Headlam, Lemingore and Gosforth, seemed to be a reasonable one and has certainly improved the look of Arransia’s ports. The Navy are exempt from this but have largely abandoned the practice of keeping old warships in reserve for many years.

Arransia’s extensive network of canals and river navigations has also become increasingly popular with leisure boaters both from the home country and from Brunswick. Obviously in the area around Stainton these pass through some uncompromisingly industrial scenery but across the country as a whole they are often in a very rural setting and have many interesting places at which to stop off. Some of the major canals are still heavily used by commercial traffic - which indeed has overall shown a 30% increase since the mid-1980s - and at times there can be a conflict between working barges and leisure boaters, exacerbated by the fact that the rather clannish families who operate most of the barges are not noted for their social graces. This is especially true of the route from Danby to Ormsby via the Danby & Ellerdine Junction Canal, the Bain Navigation and the Marchwood Canal, which runs through some of Arransia’s most attractive areas but is also extremely busy with commercial traffic. The Teviot Canal from Lucker to Sorbie offers quieter cruising and also frequent opportunities to spot steam trains. Some of the most sleepy and bucolic boating is found on the extensive canal network in Lunan and southern Edirn. Only the “main line” of the Esk & Till Union Canal from Radwinter to Laxthorpe and Gartside is particularly busy, and many of the branch canals have never had their locks expanded from the original standard of 68’x14’. This is unspectacular arable farming country, but many of the villages and small towns are appealing to the tourist and it offers probably the most relaxing inland cruising in Sabrantia.

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