Category:Visitor Information Point

Brighton "VIP" Visitor Information Point badge [image info]

Circa ~2013, back when the Toy Museum was the only VIP [image info]

Brighton Toy and Model Museum's external "Visitor Information Point" signage [image info]

The museum's Arch One also serves as a Visitor Information Point for visitors to Brighton.

It holds a range of up-to date leaflets for various attractions (including information on North Laine), and stocks a very nice map for visitors produced by VisitBrighton, which is free.

The counter also keeps a folder of additional local information that may be useful for visitors.

The VIP role is a very natural one for the museum. As well as the location under Brighton Station (which generates a constant stream of lost visitors trying to find their way back to the station), the Museum's first arch is free of charge and has various Brighton-related displays, and the visitor information role gives the volunteers and interns staffing the counter the chance to interact with customers and be helpful even during the quieter periods where the museum doesn't have as many visitors.

As well as making the volunteers' days more varied, and increasing the value of the museum as work experience for interns, the role also helps a certain number of people to discover the museum who might not have otherwise known that we were here.

The first Visitor Information Point

Until around 2013, Brighton had a quite excellent Visitor Information Centre on the Pavilion Estate.

This was supplemented by Brighton Toy and Model Museum's outlying Visitor Information Point (VIP), which was handy for people who'd just arrived in the city by rail, and needed advice and/or a map. While the VIP didn't attempt to compete with the Visitor Centre for more involved enquiries or hotel bookings, it could tell people needing deeper help where the Visitor Centre was, and visitors who needed the VC could then plan their route, at the VIP, to include the VC.

Brighton's other Visitor Information Points

The Visitor Information Point idea was pretty successful, and when the council closed the Visitor Centre, it replaced it with a constellation of additional VIP's dotted around the city.