Witness to coronations, burials, and royal weddings, London's Westminster Abbey is a historical powerhouse. Soaring Gothic architecture, exquisite stained glass, and tombs of monarchs and legends draw history enthusiasts and architecture lovers alike.
With around one million visitors every year, the biggest challenge ATS were asked to address was balancing the needs of a working church with the demands of a popular tourist attraction.
The transition to a multimedia guide service from and audio guide brings not only creative opportunities, but also new challenges and approaches to operations of a service.
ATS has worked closely with the Visitor Services team to train and support staff in the distribution and management of the guides.
ATS were appointed following a competitive tender, to bring our knowledge and experience of interpreting Churches (having transformed St Paul’s Cathedral) and develop a fresh new approach to the interpretation and visitor experience.
Our drive to deliver the most effective multimedia guide service required some new developments around visitor flow management. We designed and introduced a series of tours which offer varying lengths of content and different routing, subject to the time of day and the number of visitors.
Staff can pre-select Off-peak, Peak and Super Peak tours for the visitor. Super Peak for example, removes content from some areas of the Abbey (e.g. less layers, or no outside stops), effectively reducing the route length and content available and minimising the risk of excessive dwell times and overcrowding.
TripAdvisor February 2024: The digital guide was immensely helpful.
TripAdvisor January 2024: The kid friendly audio guide is a great idea to keep even the most bored kids engaged.
TripAdvisor September 2023: The audio guide is really informative and well-paced, keeping crowds moving throughout the church.
TripAdvisor September 2023: The self guided audio tour is very well done, and delivers an easy to understand history lesson
TripAdvisor September 2023: The audio guide was wonderfully in helping us navigate through the different rooms and areas.
TripAdvisor July 2023: The included audio guide was very informative and concise.
