Contents › wp-content › uploads › ... · 8. 4,646,185 passengers passed through Liverpool John Lennon Airport in 2012. 9. Some 600,000 passengers arrived or departed the City

Digest of Tourism Statistics The Liverpool LEP April 2013 Page 1

Contents

Introduction 2

The Key Facts 3

1 Overall Size of the Visitor Economy (STEAM) 4 1.1 Number of visitors (volume) 4 1.2 Total spend by visitors (value) 5 1.3 Jobs supported by the visitor economy 6 1.4 Change over time 7 1.5 STEAM Methodology 9

2 Local data from the Visitor Economy 10 2.1 Hotel occupancy 10 2.2 Hotel stock 13 2.3 Visitor attractions 14 2.4 Sport 15 2.5 Events 16 2.6 Transport data 17 2.7 Business Performance 22

3 Visitor profile data 27 3.1 Visitor Origin 27 3.2 Mode of transport 31 3.3 Purpose of visit 32 3.4 Demographics 33 3.5 Group type 35

4 National data 36 4.1 Occupancy trends 36 4.2 Visits to attractions trends 37 4.3 Domestic visitors (GBTS) 38 4.4 Inbound visitors (IPS) 40

5 Forecasts 43 5.1 Trends from the Liverpool City Region 3-year Action Plan 43 5.2 Economic outlook 2012 44

6 Articles 45 6.1 The Importance of Events 45 6.2 Tourism Business Confidence - Nationally 49 6.3 News 52

Appendices 54 Further reference sources 54 SIC codes defining the visitor economy 55 Crude guide to statistical confidence levels 56 Details of available publications 57


Introduction

Welcome to the latest edition of the Digest of Tourism Statistics.

The Digest is written about Tourism Research in the Liverpool City Region and is intended for all users of

tourism research data; whether businesses, consultants or students. Each edition sees a presentation of

key tourism statistics – which may change only once during a year – together with the latest data and any

recent research that the tourist board has commissioned or sponsored. There are also links for further

information. Given the state of both the UK and economies around the globe, in response to requests, we

include brief information on this in section 5.2.

This Digest presents STEAM1 data for 2011 – that is, the estimated visitor numbers recorded by the city

and wider city region. Overall, visitor levels were lower than in Capital of Culture Year, but higher than in

earlier years, a pattern we see in other data sources. Indeed, although 2008 represented a „spike‟ in

visitor numbers we see evidence of ongoing growth.

Currently, the whole economy of the Liverpool City Region is performing below national levels, with Gross

Value Added per head at £14,914 in 2009 (£20,231 nationally). The visitor economy is one of four key

growth sectors, building on the strengths and potential the area offers, to drive a step change in the

economic performance of the Liverpool City Region. The four growth sectors in full are:

Culture and the Visitor Economy

Liverpool Superport

Low Carbon Economy

The Knowledge Economy

For more information on each of these, see the details of available publications in the appendix.

We welcome feedback on this document; if you feel there is some aspect of research it should cover,

please do let us know on [email protected].

The Liverpool City Region

We describe the geography covered by the tourist board as being the “Liverpool City Region” (not to be

confused with the Liverpool Local Authority area or the City Centre). Although there are a number of

definitions, for our purposes this covers the six districts comprising „Merseyside and Halton‟; the same

area as covered by the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership:

1 Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor, the primary method used by the Liverpool LEP and many tourist

boards in the UK to measure the value and volume of tourism.

mailto:[email protected]


Key Facts about the visitor economy in the Liverpool City Region

1. In 2011 there were 55m visitors to the Liverpool City Region.

2. In 2011 the visitor economy was worth £3.1bn to the Liverpool City Region.

3. In 2011 approximately 43,300 jobs were supported by visitor spend.

4. Liverpool is in the top 10 of all UK towns or cities visited by overseas visitors

(and is now placed 5th).

5. Five attractions drew in over ½ m visitors in 2012; the new Museum of Liverpool, Tate

Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Mersey Ferries and World Museum Liverpool,

6. Average hotel room occupancy in 2012 was 72%.

7. Over 1.2m hotel rooms were sold in Liverpool City Centre in 2012.

8. 4,646,185 passengers passed through Liverpool John Lennon Airport in 2012.

9. Some 600,000 passengers arrived or departed the City Region on one of the three

ferry routes in 2012.

10. Liverpool One, the retail and leisure development in the City Centre, recorded a footfall

of almost 26m people in 2012 – this is 5% up on 2011.

England‟s Northwest Research Service

The Digest is produced by the research team at The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise

Partnership, who are also responsible for the annual Economic Review and conducting many of

the local tourism surveys, including Destination Benchmarking, the Airport Gateway study and a

quarterly Tourism Business Performance survey.

Under the banner of England‟s Northwest Research Service, the team conducts commercial

research in a range of different sectors across the Northwest, with a particular specialism in the

tourism industry and event impact evaluation.

Amongst the research packages we can offer are:

Customer profiling and segmentation

Customer satisfaction studies

Economic impact studies

Gap analysis

Marketing / branding evaluation and assessment

Performance monitoring

For more information, contact [email protected] .


Size of the Visitor Economy


1 Overall size of the visitor economy (STEAM)

1.1 Number of visitors (Volume)

In total there were an estimated 55m visitors to the Liverpool City Region in 2011; this

includes 50.5m day visitors and 4.5m staying visitors.

For the city of Liverpool itself, this equated to a total of 30.5m visitors (28.5m

day visitors and 2.0m staying visitors).

Thousands of visitors 2011 Liverpool

Liverpool City

Region

Serviced Accommodation 1,154.7 2,122.1

Non-Serviced Accommodation 127.5 228.3

Staying with Friends and Relatives 701.9 2,131.2

Day Visitors 28,511.4 50,506.3

TOTAL 30,495.5 54,987.9

Source: STEAM

Liverpool, 28,511.4

Sefton, 7,657.9

Wirral, 6,026.5

Halton, Knowsley, St.Helens,

8,310.4

Day Visitors (000s)

Liverpool, 1,984.1

Sefton, 711.3

Wirral, 752.7


1,033.6

Staying Visitors (000s)

Statistical Note:

Although in the charts above we provide data for each district, a certain amount of

caution should be exercised. STEAM is very much an input-based model (see

section 1.5), and whilst a good range of inputs are available for the whole city

region and Liverpool itself, this is less the case at district level.

Hence, although figures for the whole area and Liverpool are statistically robust,

the exact split of visitor numbers and impact amongst the other five districts has a

lower level of statistical reliability.



1.2 Total spend by visitors (Value)

Total spend by visitors is shown in the table below. Note that this covers both the direct spend by

visitors and the indirect spend resulting (for example, spend within the local economy by

businesses using local goods and services).

In 2011 the visitor economy was estimated as being worth £3.1bn to the Liverpool City

Region - £898m of this coming from staying visitors.

The visitor economy was worth £2bn to Liverpool itself.

Economic impact of visitors 2011 (£m) Liverpool

Liverpool City

Region

Serviced Accommodation £325.2 £525.7

Non-Serviced Accommodation £114.5 £158.6

Staying with Friends and Relatives £93.1 £214.1

Day Visitors £1,504.1 £2,245.4

TOTAL £2,037.0 £3,143.8

Source: STEAM

The sectors where spend occurs are detailed below.

Economic impact of visitors 2011 (£m) Liverpool

Liverpool City

Region

Accommodation £101.7 £174.5

Food and drink £417.5 £587.5

Recreation £131.6 £177.1

Shopping £440.9 £750.7

Transport £177.5 £245.7

Total Direct Revenue £1,269.3 £1,935.4

Indirect Expenditure £513.9 £821.3

VAT £253.9 £387.1

TOTAL £2,037.0 £3,143.8

Source: STEAM

Liverpool, £2,037.0

Sefton, £428.5

Wirral, £289.0


£389.2

Economic Impact (£m)



1.3 Jobs supported by the visitor economy

In terms of jobs in the visitor economy, there are two broad approaches to estimating this. The

first is to estimate the jobs supported by visitor spend (as adopted by the STEAM model). The

second is to decide which SIC2 codes are applicable to tourism and use survey data from the

Office for National Statistics (ONS) to determine „actual‟ jobs. Neither method is an exact

estimate, as using STEAM is clearly not counting direct jobs, whilst using ONS data does not

count the jobs that may be supported by spend made with sectors outside the SIC codes – nor

does this approach allow for the calculation of indirect jobs being supported.

a) Using STEAM data.

This estimates that there were 43,316 jobs supported by tourism expenditure throughout

the Liverpool City Region – 33,300 of these were direct jobs.

In Liverpool there were 27,637 jobs supported by tourism spend.

Jobs supported by visitor spend (FTE) 2011 Liverpool

Liverpool City

Region

Accommodation 1,388 3,164

Food and drink 7,882 11,090

Recreation 3,016 4,056

Shopping 7,587 12,918

Transport 1,497 2,072

Total Direct Revenue 21,369 33,300

Indirect Expenditure 6,267 10,016

TOTAL 27,637 43,316

Source: STEAM

Source: STEAM

2 Standard Industrial Classification – the list of codes used by ONS to allocate all industries into specific sectors, last

revised in 2007. Typically, many economic activity sectors – such as „tourism‟ do not fit neatly into the codes used by ONS, but are instead assumed to involve a range of sectors and sub-sectors.

Liverpool, 21,369

Sefton, 4,308

Wirral, 3,338


4,285

Direct Jobs

Liverpool, 27,637

Sefton, 6,010

Wirral, 4,212


5,458

Total Jobs (Incl. indirect)



b) Using data from ONS

A selection of SIC codes have been chosen as providing the closest fit possible in terms of the

visitor economy sector and these are listed in the appendix.

This suggests that there were 46,700 direct jobs in visitor economy-related SIC codes; including

27,200 part-time jobs and 17,400 full-time jobs. As indicated above though, this is likely to

significantly undervalue the jobs connected to the visitor economy; an easy example to illustrate

the point is that this data does not cover jobs in the retail sector, when STEAM suggest that over

a third of visitor spend was made on „shopping‟, thus supporting jobs in this sector.

Jobs in the visitor economy, Liverpool City Region

Full time

Employees

Part Time

Employees

All

Employment3

Accommodation 2,800 2,500 5,400

Food and drink 10,900 21,800 34,100

Transport & travel 1,100 500 1,800

Culture, attractions, entertainment, other 2,600 2,400 5,300

TOTAL 17,400 27,200 46,700

Source: Business Register & Employment Survey 2010, ONS.

Even using this limited ONS data demonstrates the importance of the sector, with the above jobs

accounting for 8% of all employment within the Liverpool City Region – although this will vary by

district, as indicated below:

3 “All employment” includes both employees and self employed such as sole traders.

6.1%

Halton employment

Visitor economy

Other

4.2%

Knowsley employment

Visitor economy

Other

8.4%

Liverpool employment

Visitor economy

Other

10.6%

Sefton employment

Visitor economy

Other

7.4%

St.Helens employment

Visitor economy

Other

7.2%

Wirral employment

Visitor economy

Other



1.4 Change over time

Although the headline figures produced by STEAM are useful, it is perhaps even more helpful in

illustrating growth or decline in the visitor economy. In the series of charts below, data is tracked

back to 20054.

Source: STEAM

Both day and staying visitor numbers show an increase from last year; day visitors are at their

highest ever level excluding Capital of Culture year, whilst staying visits across the whole city region

reached a new record level.

In terms of the economic impact of the sector, despite the „spike‟ generated by Capital of Culture

there is a clear ongoing growth trend. Over the last year, economic conditions have seen a reduction

in per capita spending – notable especially in terms of accommodation spend – which means that the

sector has shown only a relatively small growth.

Source: STEAM

4 Note: where economic data is traced back to 2005, all figures shown are “at 2011values”.

22

,12

4

22

,47

6

23

,28

0

31

,70

7

25

,89

0

28

,11

2

28

,51

1

44

,19

3

45

,16

7

46

,09

8

55

,42

9

48

,20

9

50

,08

8

50

,50

6

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

(00

0s

)

Numbers of day visitors

Liverpool Liverpool City Region1

,49

1

1,6

28

1,7

03

1,9

13

1,7

35

1,9

58

1,9

84

3,9

54

4,1

88

4,2

96

4,4

53

4,1

08

4,4

19

4,4

82

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

5,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

(00

0s

)

Numbers of staying visitors

Liverpool Liverpool City Region

£3

86

.0m

£4

06

.0m

£4

34

.0m

£4

90

.0m

£4

92

.0m

£5

38

.0m

£5

33

.0m

£1

,16

9.0

m

£1

,20

7.0

m

£1

,25

0.0

m

£1

,67

3.0

m

£1

,36

6.0

m

£1

,48

3.0

m

£1

,50

4.0

m

£m

£500m

£1,000m

£1,500m

£2,000m

£2,500m

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Economic impact - Liverpool

Staying visitors Day visitors

£7

90

.0m

£8

26

.0m

£8

63

.0m

£8

92

.0m

£8

59

.0m

£9

06

.0m

£8

98

.0m

£1

,99

1.0

m

£2

,06

3.0

m

£2

,09

7.0

m

£2

,47

9.0

m

£2

,11

9.0

m

£2

,22

5.0

m

£2

,24

5.0

m

£m

£500m

£1,000m

£1,500m

£2,000m

£2,500m

£3,000m

£3,500m

£4,000m

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Economic impact - Whole City Region




1.5 STEAM Methodology

To estimate the volume and value of tourism, the Liverpool City Region uses the STEAM5 model

– this model is widely (though not universally) used across the UK, including other tourist boards

in Northwest England. STEAM is owned and operated by Global Tourism Solutions (UK) Ltd.

STEAM relies on local-level data to drive the estimates, principally6:

o Accommodation stock

o Local occupancy surveys

o Visits to attractions / events

o Visits to Tourist Information Centres

o Hotel Occupancy in the City Region

A key component of the way in which STEAM works is its definition of „day visitors‟; this is

defined as a person travelling to a district other than that in which they live, for a non-routine

purpose, with a stay of over 3 hours. Thus, someone making a trip to Southport Pier from

Liverpool could be classed as a day visitor, but not someone making a similar trip who lived in

Formby. The important note to make here is that the number of the day visits recorded by

STEAM for the Liverpool City Region will contain a certain amount of intra-city region tourism.

Local data for the preceding year is gathered by the research team in January-March each year.

This data is passed to Global Tourism Solutions, with reports typically available by mid-year.

Currently the most recently available data is that for 2011.

Note:

GTS-UK has utilised research conducted on behalf of the Northwest Regional Development

Agency (NWDA) in 2007/2009 to update the initial baseline estimates which the model has

used – much of this information having not previously been available. This change has

resulted in significant alterations to data and this affects not just the Liverpool City Region

but also the whole of the Northwest. Therefore, the figures used within this Digest replace

completely any STEAM figures from 2009 or before.

For more guidance on this change (if required), please contact the research team:

[email protected].

5 Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor – so-called because Scarborough was the first UK location where

the model was applied. 6 Notice that STEAM uses a further range of inputs, although the components which have the biggest influence on

the model are listed here.


Local Data


2 Local data from the Visitor Economy

2.1 Hotel occupancy

Hotel occupancy data is drawn from the LJ Forecaster®7. Currently, 36 establishments take part

in LJ Forecaster in the Liverpool City Region; although predominantly reflective of larger hotels

and serviced apartments in Liverpool City Centre, it includes a number of establishments based

in the districts.

Room occupancy,

Liverpool City Region 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

2012

Weekday average (Mo-Th) 70.5% 76.5% 66.3% 66.3% 66.7% 69.0%

Weekend average (Fr-Sa) 83.9% 85.8% 83.8% 83.9% 85.8% 87.6%

Sunday 48.2% 54.1% 51.1% 53.5% 54.9% 56.3%

Total average 71.3% 75.8% 69.2% 69.5% 70.4% 72. 4%

Source: LJ Forecaster

In 2012 room occupancy in the city region averaged 72%. Current trends suggest that

2013 will be higher.

Although occupancy levels are lower overall than in 2008, two factors should be

remembered;

o 2008 was Capital of Culture Year.

o There has been significant growth in actual rooms since 2008 (see section 2.2).

A particular feature of the Liverpool City Region is that it records high weekend

occupancy levels with lower levels during the week. In part this is a reflection of the lower

business base of the Liverpool City Region – though the growing conference market is

beginning to redress this. This does point to the strength of the leisure market, with

weekend occupancy now as high as was recorded during 2008.

Below, the latest occupancy data is compared with earlier years.


7 LJ Forecaster is a tool run by Lynne Jones Research Ltd that allows hotel and tourism managers to see an up-to-

date picture of room occupancy and availability in their city.

53

.9%

67

.0%

71

.1%

70

.4%

68

.8%

69

.8%

74

.8%

73

.4%

75

.5%

76

.1%

71

.8%

61

.9%

54

.4%

68

.9%

65

.9%

74

.9%

68

.3%

71

.5%

77

.2%

73

.3%

75

.7%

75

.6%

73

.5%

65

.7%

57

.9%

67

.7%

70

.3%

73

.1%

72

.7%

76

.1%

76

.8%

76

.4%

79

.8%

77

.3%

77

.9%

62

.7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Occupancy monthly tends

2010 2011 2012

Local Data


Most establishments8 also complete a section of the LJ Forecaster dealing with revenue analysis.

This gives the Average Room Rate (ARR) and Revenue Per Available Rooms (RevPAR) – the

latter tending to be the preferred measure in terms of economic performance.

Room revenue,

Liverpool City Region 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

ARR weekday average (Mo-Th) £66.28 £70.74 £62.47 £55.73 £53.38 £50.96

ARR weekend average (Fr-Sa) £74.65 £77.33 £69.62 £69.22 £71.02 £73.48

ARR average £68.71 £72.39 £64.70 £60.43 £59.67 £58.84

REVPAR weekday average (Mo-Th) £48.60 £54.75 £41.47 £37.25 £35.84 £35.42

REVPAR weekend average (Fr-Sa) £63.81 £67.45 £58.98 £58.64 £61.37 £64.61

REVPAR average £48.90 £55.60 £44.88 £42.38 £42.32 £42.74


The average room yield (RevPAR) in the city region in 2012 was £42.74

Although weekday yield tends to show a reduction on previous years, weekend yield

appears above that seen in 2009-2011.

Both weekday and weekend yields are still lower than that seen pre-2009; reflecting

reduced levels of business travel, the pressure on leisure visitor spend and increased

competition from expanded stock levels.


Major events are an important factor in generating higher performance for accommodation

providers in the Liverpool City Region; for example:

The Grand National Weekend 2012 saw:

average occupancy levels of 91% and an average room yield of £126.13.

The Mathew Street Festival 2011 saw:


The Labour Party Conference9 period saw:


All hotel performance – both in terms of occupancy levels and yield – needs to be viewed in the

light of the hotel room stock in the city (see section 2.2).

8 Note: this does not mean all hotels; for example in the most recent monthly survey, 35 out of the 37 supplied

revenue figures. 9 Held in the city for the first time, from 25/09/2011to 29/09/2011.

£2

9.8

1

£4

0.5

0

£4

2.7

6

£4

8.5

5

£4

3.5

6

£4

0.8

4

£4

2.4

4

£4

1.0

9

£4

8.3

5

£4

8.1

4

£4

4.9

4

£3

7.6

0

£2

8.4

6

£3

8.4

6

£3

8.4

5

£5

2.3

9

£4

1.5

4

£4

0.4

0

£4

4.2

4

£4

3.4

9

£5

1.9

4

£4

7.0

6

£4

3.4

5

£3

8.0

0

£3

0.0

1

£3

7.4

1

£4

1.6

1

£4

8.4

7

£4

4.1

7

£4

5.8

2

£4

3.6

6

£4

4.2

6

£4

8.2

3

£4

6.8

1

£4

6.7

3

£3

5.7

4

£0

£10

£20

£30

£40

£50

£60


Room yield monthly tends

2010 2011 2012

Local Data


In the table below, known city centre hotel stock is overlaid by the occupancy levels shown in the

LJ Forecaster to produce an estimate of the actual number of hotel rooms that have been sold:

Source: LJ Forecaster / Tourist board room stock data

This indicates a growth in the numbers of visitors staying in hotels in the city and in 2012 over

1.2m rooms were sold in the city centre. This is higher than in any previous year (including

Capital of Culture year) and shows Liverpool‟s ongoing growth as a destination. We note that the

year to date figure suggest a growth 11% above last year at the same time.

Importantly, besides the attractiveness of the destination, this is also a product of increasing

stock levels; below we see the monthly results, with each month indicating record numbers of

rooms being sold on the year before.

Source: LJ Forecaster / Tourist board room stock data

10

Figures rounded to the nearest 000.

67

,00

0

75

,00

0

90

,00

0

87

,00

0

88

,00

0

83

,00

0

93

,00

0

93

,00

0

94

,00

0

10

0,0

00

93

,00

0

83

,00

0

72

,00

0

81

,00

0

86

,00

0

98

,00

0

91

,00

0

91

,00

0

10

7,0

00

10

0,0

00

10

0,0

00

10

5,0

00

10

1,0

00

92

,00

0

81

,96

4.8

7

92

,29

5.6

8

10

1,4

60

.12

10

2,5

30

.08

10

4,0

65

.24

10

5,3

21

.28

11

0,2

05

.88

10

8,4

84

.64

11

1,0

00

.00

11

8,0

00

.00

11

4,0

00

.00

94

,00

0.0

0


City Centre rooms sold

2010 2011 2012

Hotel rooms sold10

Liverpool

City Centre

2004 720,000

2005 705,000

2006 694,000

2007 725,000

2008 910,000

2009 897,000

2010 1,046,000

2011 1,124,000

2012 1,244,000

Local Data


2.2 Hotel stock

Hotel room stock is (as seen in 2.1) an important component behind performance; in the charts

below we show growth both in the room stock and the number of establishments. Note that in

order to simplify this visually, we present the data split between Liverpool City Centre and

elsewhere in the city region (including the Liverpool suburbs).

Source: Tourist board room stock data

Since 2005, the city centre stock has grown by 80%: from 2,612 rooms to 4,698 rooms.

This includes the most recent openings:

o The 155 room Days Inn Hotel on James Street (opened March 2011).

o The 151 room Hotel Indigo on Chapel Street (opened June 2011).

o The 141 room Travelodge on The Strand (opened February 2012)

o The 183 room Premier Inn on Hanover Street (October 2012)

This rate of growth is slightly lower when viewed across the entire Liverpool City Region.

With fewer developments outside the city centre, total stock has grown by 49% (from

6,229 rooms to 9,291 rooms). Most recent developments include:

o The 66-room Travelodge in New Brighton (opened July 2011).

o The 56-room Holiday Inn Express in Hoylake11

(opened in May 2012)

In terms of hotel grading, the chart below details for both the city centre and the whole city region

the number of rooms and establishments available for each rating.

Rooms Budget 1* 2* 3* 4*

City Centre 1,241 39 39 1,413 1,611

Elsewhere City Region 1,165 30 65 1,018 1,024

Total 2,406 69 104 2,431 2,635

Establishments Budget 1* 2* 3* 4*

City Centre 11 2 2 13 13

Elsewhere City Region 24 1 3 18 15

Total 35 3 5 31 28

Source: Liverpool LEP Room Stock

11

Might be considered a „reopening‟, being a reconstruction of the former Kings Gap Court Hotel.

2,6

12

2,6

39

2,7

87

3,4

32

3,9

32

4,2

51

4,5

57

4,6

98

3,6

17

3,7

14

3,7

12

3,8

51

4,2

35

4,3

86

4,4

52

4,5

93

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

5,000

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

Hotel room stock

Liverpool City Centre Elsewhere City Region

25

27

30

32

36

40

42

43

73

74

72

76

78

81

82

83

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

Hotel establishments


Local Data


2.3 Visits to Attractions

In the table below, we show the top attractions in the Liverpool City Region in 2012; this shows

the diverse range of attractions, both free and paid, that the city region offers. It should be noted

that this excludes some major attractions in the area where it is not possible to obtain accurate

counts, such as the Albert Dock, Wirral Coastal Park and Another Place.

Note that we can only show those attractions who respond to our annual attractions survey and

who permit us to show their data.

We specifically note here that during 2011 the new Museum of Liverpool opened on the

waterfront; a major new attraction for the city. In the 20 months since its July opening, the venue

has seen over 1.5m visitors.

Top “free” attractions

Attraction Type District

Attendance 2012

1 Museum of Liverpool Museum / gallery Liverpool 1,011,058

2 Merseyside Maritime Museum Museum / gallery Liverpool 845,709

3 World Museum Liverpool Museum / gallery Liverpool 716,579

4 Tate Liverpool Museum / gallery Liverpool 620,124

5 Bluecoat Museum / gallery Liverpool 615,824&

6 Liverpool Cathedral Place of worship Liverpool 471,044

7 International Slavery Museum Museum / gallery Liverpool 444,070

8 FACT Museum / gallery Liverpool 360,361*

9 Walker Art Gallery Museum / gallery Liverpool 337,799

10 Southport Pier Other Sefton 317,007*

11 Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Place of worship Liverpool 313,744

12 National Trust, Formby Nature / wildlife / zoo Sefton 267,375&

13 Lady Lever Art Gallery Museum / gallery Wirral 200,759

14 Tam O‟Shanter Urban Farm Farms Wirral 108,000*

15 Sudley House Historic Property Liverpool 65,053

Source: Tourist board annual Visitor Attractions Survey

Top “paid” attractions

Attraction Type District

Attendance 2012

1 Mersey Ferries Other Liverpool

&Wirral 637,312

2 Echo Arena Liverpool Entertainment Liverpool 574,748&

3 Knowsley Safari Park Nature / wildlife / zoo Knowsley 530,691@

4 Liverpool Philharmonic Entertainment Liverpool 262,382

5 Beatles Story Museum / gallery Liverpool 241,188

6 Liverpool Football Club Museum & Tour Museum / gallery Liverpool 143,122#

7 New Palace Family Amusement Centre Leisure / theme parks Wirral 140,000#

8 Croxteth Hall & Country Park Historic Property Liverpool 117,361@

9 Yellow Duckmarine Tour Liverpool 107,271&

10 Ness Botanic Gardens Gardens Wirral 101,701*

11 Speke Hall, Gardens & Estate Historic Property Liverpool 105,771&

12 Port Sunlight Museum Museum / gallery Wirral 35,178&

13 Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Tour Liverpool 33,757*

14 World of Glass Visitor Centre St.Helens 33,191

15 Norton Priory Historic Property Halton 29,673*

Source: Tourist board annual Visitor Attractions Survey

& 2011 figures

* 2010 figures

@ 2009 figures

# 2008 figures

Local Data


An important analysis in terms of visits to attractions is to view changes over time. For our core

attractions, the chart below on the left shows the change indexed to 2005; whilst on the right it shows the

distribution of visits during 201012

; in part at least some of this may owe to the opening of the new

Museum of Liverpool, but given ongoing pressures on disposable household income it is likely that a

growth in „daycations‟ has taken place in 2011.

Source: Liverpool Tourist board Key Performance Indicators

This suggests – as with the STEAM and hotel occupancy data – an underlying trend of growth in

the visitor market. Even ignoring the impact of the new museum, visits in April – June were higher

than seen in any year besides Capital of Culture.

The peak of visitation to attractions occurs in July and August but there are still substantial levels

occurring at all other times of the year – including the October period.

2.4 Sport

As well as visitor attractions, „sport‟ is a key driver behind visits to the city region; the following

are the attendance figures recorded at key venues for the most recent sporting year13

.

Venue District Attendance

1 Liverpool FC Liverpool 929,994

2 Everton FC Liverpool 819,409

3 St.Helens Saints RLFC St.Helens 228,810

4 Aintree Racecourse Liverpool 177,506

5 Haydock Park Racecourse St.Helens 170,183

6 Tranmere Rovers FC Wirral 127,765

7 Widnes Vikings RLFC Halton 76,832

Source: Media / publicity

12

We use 2010 for distribution of visits, to allow for the possible „distortion‟ from the opening of the new Museum of Liverpool. 13

For racecourses this is a calendar year; for others this relates to the 2010/11 sport season.

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Core attractions - visit trends

4.1

%

7.4

%

7.4

%

8.2

%

8.5

%

9.2

%

12

.0%

14

.5%

7.8

%

9.6

%

7.0

%

4.3

%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

Ja

n

Fe

b

Ma

r

Ap

r

Ma

y

Ju

n

Ju

l

Au

g

Se

p

Oct

Nov

Dec

2010 - monthly visits12

Local Data


2.5 Events

In addition to the list of top attractions we also record the top 10 free and paid events. Where

local authorities or event organisers have published a figure we use this; other than that, use is

made of figures quoted in the press.

A higher degree of reliability is associated with visitor numbers at paid events, as the ticketed

data provides a robust measure. Again, as with attractions, we can only show those events

where organisers respond to our request for figures and permit us to publish their data.

Top “free” events 2012

Event District Attendance

1 Mathew Street14

Liverpool 160,000

2 Brazilica Liverpool 80,000

3 Liverpool Pride Liverpool 52,000

4 Hope Street Festival Liverpool 30,000

5 Southport Food & Drink Sefton 24,000

6 Festival of Transport Wirral 35,000

7 Hoylake RNLI Open Day Wirral 20,000

8 Wirral Kite Festival Wirral 18,500

9 Wirral Egg run Wirral 12,000

10 Halloween Lantern Carnival Sefton 10,000


Top “paid” events 2012

Event District Attendance 1 Grand National Liverpool 150,000

2 Southport Air Show Sefton 150,000

3 Southport Flower Show Sefton 70,000

4 Creamfields Halton 60,000

5 Liverpool Food and Drink Festival Liverpool 36,000

6 Wirral Food and Drink Festival Wirral 20,000

7 Liverpool International Tennis Tournament Liverpool 20,000

8 RunLiverpool Marathon15

Liverpool / Wirral 10,000

9 NW Masters – Haydock St Helens 10,000

10 Port Sunlight Christmas Fayre Wirral 6,000


14 Saturday figure only, due to event being cancelled because of bad weather

15

Figure covers >10,000 runners

Local Data


2.6 Transport data

a) Passenger levels LJLA

A range of airlines provide routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) including the

scheduled operators EasyJet, FlyBE, Ryanair and Wizz Air.

Source: CAA Airport Statistics

During 2012 just under 5m passengers travelled through LJLA; this is a slight downturn on

figures recorded during the previous 2 years. However, there are a number of considerations to

be taken into account here:

The above data represents both inbound16

and outbound17

travellers; there being no

contiguous source disaggregating changing tourism levels from (potentially lower)

domestic outbound travellers18

.

2009 saw the full impact of the recession, which is likely to have dampened travel

demand, in particular amongst UK residents making outbound trips19

.

The relatively recent cessation of the KLM link to Schiphol is likely to have an impact on

traffic levels in 2012.

One point that we would draw is the relative growth in traffic at LJLA to the end of 2011 when

compared to national data (represented top right); the airport showed historic growth stronger

than the UK air travel total and a stronger recovery from the recessionary period. However, as

indicated about, the cessation of the KLM service may mean an end to this trend.

16

“Inbound” = Overseas visitors to the UK. 17

“Outbound” = UK nationals travelling overseas. 18

Every two/three years The Liverpool LEP conducts the Gateway Survey, which provides an analysis of outbound visitors and includes a measure of what the split is between inbound and outbound travellers. The 2009 study suggested 24% were inbound travellers; the 2007 study estimated 16% were inbound travellers. 19

As suggested by research from VisitBritain

4,4

16

,75

1

4,9

71

,36

1

5,5

17

,66

7

5,4

02

,98

2

4,9

42

,98

1

5,0

08

,45

5

5,2

47

,10

9

4,6

46

,18

5

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

LJLA passenger numbers

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11C

ha

ng

e (

ind

ex

ed

to

20

00

)

Passenger levels

ALL UK airports LJLA

Local Data



The change on a monthly basis can be seen above; whilst below we show in the year to date the

number of passengers by route of destination/origin. Again do bear in mind that this covers both

inbound and outbound travellers, and is not necessarily an indication of the strength of different

visitor markets.


32

1,0

00

36

3,0

00

42

1,0

00

36

3,0

00

41

5,0

00

46

5,0

00

52

0,0

00

55

6,0

00

48

8,0

00

48

1,0

00

31

3,0

00

30

1,0

00

30

9,0

00

34

2,0

00

39

3,0

00

48

6,0

00

48

5,0

00

48

6,0

00

55

1,0

00

57

5,0

00

51

2,0

00

48

8,0

00

30

2,0

00

31

7,0

00

29

5,0

00

31

1,0

00

35

2,0

00

39

0,0

00

38

9,0

00

41

6,0

00

45

4,0

00

48

5,0

00

43

3,0

00

40

7,0

00

26

7,0

00

26

6,0

00


Monthly Terminal Pax, LJLA

2010 2011 2012

1,100,893

460,084

378,921

336,929

246,467

238,979

199,819

134,763

92,150

69,471

44,703

53,138

47,636

44,633

50,355

35,113

36,086

26,174

23,080

20,472

11,583

8,122

Spain

Eire

Poland

France

Netherlands

Portugal

Canary Islands

Switzerland

Germany

Italy

Belgium

Norway

Slovak Republic

Greece

Lithuania

Gibraltar

Latvia

Malta

Estonia

Turkey

Austria

Sweden

Passengers - International Route analysis

Local Data


b) Irish Sea Ferry passengers

Until recently, four passenger routes were operated from the Liverpool City Region:

Liverpool – Isle of Man (Steam Packet)

Liverpool – Dublin (P&O)

Birkenhead – Dublin (Norfolkline DFDS)

Birkenhead – Belfast (Norfolkline DFDS Stena)

In 2010, DFDS acquired Norfolkline; unfortunately, despite strong market potential DFDS

disposed of the Irish Sea part of the Norfolkline group within a year – this decision may

particularly have been influenced by the condition of the Irish economy. The Belfast link was sold

to Stena and the Dublin link closed as at January 2011. Stena have since undertaken significant

refurbishment of the ships on their „new‟ Belfast link, with strong marketing promotion.

Source: Sea Passenger Statistics, DfT

In 2012, some 600,000 passengers arrived in Liverpool by one of the four ferry routes.

2010 saw a significantly higher level of traffic on all routes, partially benefitting from the

disruption to aviation caused by the eruption of Eyjafjellajokull; however a quarterly

analysis of route data indicates a level of modal shift, with growth in ferry passengers

across the whole year.

2011 has seen growth on the Belfast route (some of this being traffic „abstracted‟ from

the closure of the competing Fleetwood-Larne link at the end of 2010).

Liverpool-Douglas figures were affected in 2011 by technical problems, meaning fewer

sailings were offered during the summer / autumn.

The much smaller passenger capacity now offered to Dublin is evident, despite P&O

introducing a third vessel onto their route (weekly passenger capacity is now c5,700,

compared to c10,900 in 2010). An expansion / reopening or an improved offer is here

unlikely until both UK and Irish economies improve.

16

1.7

17

1.0

26

5.0

17

3.3

18

7.2

29

0.0

17

2.1

18

9.9

27

8.8

17

1.0

18

7.1

27

6.0

18

9.5

22

1.2

27

8.4

11

7.5

24

5.5

25

9.3

12

1.3

20

6.6

27

0.3

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Liverpool - Dublin Liverpool - Belfast Liverpool - Douglas

(00

0s

Pa

x)

Liverpool Sea Passengers

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Local Data


c) Cruise Ship Passengers

Since Liverpool‟s Cruise Terminal was inaugurated in September 2007, allowing vessels to berth

alongside the waterfront (rather than mid-river or in the North Docks), the cruise market has

shown significant growth. In 2012 those which are on a cruise originating or terminating in

Liverpool were permitted to this facility for the first time, having previously been located in the

Langton Dock; temporary terminal check-in and baggage facilities have been constructed on

adjoining land.

The charts below show both cruise ship calls and originating/terminating cruises; both in terms of

passenger numbers20

and vessel trips.

Source: Port / operator publicity

In 2012 it was estimated that there would be potentially 23,644 passengers on cruise

ships visiting the city and an estimated 9,600 on cruise ships departing the city.

The estimated number of passengers on „cruise calls‟ at the terminal in 2012 is slightly

reduced on last year, though broadly comparable.

2012 saw a slight increase in cruises/pax originating or terminating in the city. Partially

this is due to the ability to now use the Liverpool Cruise Terminal (operators had

expressed dissatisfaction with the location, facilities and the need to „lock in and out‟ at

the Langton Dock terminal, especially in comparison with the Liverpool Cruise Terminal).

However, with many operators planning their schedules some years in advance, it is

likely to be some time before the real benefit of the new facility becomes apparent.

20

Passengers shown is for the “potential pax”, i.e., if each ship were operating at capacity, (based on the listed passenger capacity on the operators‟ websites) and hence may not fully reflect actual passenger numbers.

8,1

59

6,1

46

17

,70

0

15

,99

5

24

,38

4

10

,99

0

26

,42

2

10

,16

0

26

,47

0

8,4

00

23

,64

4

9,6

00

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Cruise calls Originating / terminating cruises

Cruise Passengers

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

9 14

13

29

15

25

17

12

15

10

15

12

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Cruise calls Originating / terminating cruises

Vessel trips

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Local Data


d) Rail Passengers

Data on rail passengers is hard to come by; despite rail operation in the UK being operated

through government-supported franchises, less information is available than in the private

sectors of shipping and aviation.

Possibly the only usable data comes from the Rail Regulator‟s monitor of station usage. This only

covers total passengers not just visitors. Nevertheless we show on the left the top UK stations21

compared to other major UK cities and on the right usage levels of other key stations22

within the

Liverpool City Region.

Most recent data comes from the 2010-11 financial year and the estimated change is calculated

on the increase/decrease over 2009-10.

Key destinations Exits

Estimated

change:

Selected key city region

stations Exits

Estimated

change:

Glasgow Central 12,475,490 4.8% Liverpool James Street 1,659,872 -1.4%

Birmingham New St 12,348,172 -2.3% Southport 1,443,224 -2.1%

Leeds 12,245,808 11.4% Formby 797,945 1.2%

Manchester Piccadilly 10,639,228 7.2% New Brighton 512,822 4.5%

Edinburgh 9,978,673 3.3% West Kirby 407,653 3.7%

Brighton 7,246,505 5.5% St.Helens Central 361,905 5.7%

Liverpool Lime St 5,905,753 9.0% Port Sunlight 337,769 4.9%

Cardiff Central 5,629,984 4.8% Liverpool South Parkway 320,831 10.3%

Bristol Temple Meads 4,204,670 6.8% Hoylake 294,729 4.1%

Cambridge 4,122,708 7.6% Runcorn 309,941 15.8%

Source: Station usage data, Office of the Rail Regulator.

21

Excluding London & key commuter terminals 22

Stations are selected based on their central locations or proximity to key visitor attractions.

Statistical note:

As data is drawn from ticket sales data from the rail industry, trips

undertaken using multi-modal ticket in former metropolitan areas (such

as “Merseyside”) are estimated and included within these figures.

Local Data


2.8 Business performance

Throughout the year the research team at the Local Enterprise Partnership conducts the „how‟s business‟ survey, in order to monitor performance of the visitor economy locally and to identify any emerging concerns that businesses may have. A web-based survey is currently used. All the LEPs tourism and conference members are sent an email inviting them to participate in the research, highlighting the reasons for the survey. Unfortunately response rates are currently relatively low with an average „strike rate‟ of less than 5% typically yielding c.50 responses. This means that although we are able to gauge the overall „mood‟ amongst businesses, we are not able to view to any depth what is happening in sub-sectors of the visitor economy. (Broadly speaking, 52% of the sample came from accommodation providers, 10% from visitor attractions, 24% from catering and 14% from „others‟). This report presents the findings from the latest survey, conducted during January.

a) Industry performance over the past three months

Businesses were asked how their performance had been over the last few months, compared

with the same period a year ago.

A majority of businesses stated that their costs had increased (over half, at 65%). There is

something of an ambivalence regarding visitor numbers; as many businesses reported a drop as

reported a rise. Note 44% indicated that their profitability was down, with just 17% reporting this

as up; this may be either due to the factors of increased costs or more cautious spending by

consumers; and especially in the case of accommodation providers, the increased levels of

competition.

-30%-9%

35%

-44%

44%26%

44%

39%

26% 65%

22%

17%

-60%

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Turnover Costs Visitor numbers Profitability

How has business been generally during the second part of this year compared to the same time in 2011

Up

Level

Down

Local Data


Businesses were then asked to indicate changes in their level of trade from different market

segments, compared to the same time in 2011.

Below this is „balanced (the proportion of businesses reporting an increase, less the proportion

reporting a decrease):

UK visitors -9%

Overseas visitors -23%

Group trade -35%

Business trade -39%

Conferences -53%

Although results for the domestic market suggest a pattern largely reflective of that seen in 2011,

we note that the data indicates growth in the overseas markets.

Business and conference trade numbers are down significantly – although at least partially this

could reflect on the city hosting the Labour Party conference in 2011.

-27%-36%

-45% -52% -58%

55% 50% 45% 38% 37%

18%14%

10%14%

5%

-80%

-60%

-40%

-20%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

UK Visitors Overseas visitors

Group trade Business trade Conferences

And have you experienced any changes in the following types of business compared to the same period last year

Up

Level

Down

Local Data


b) Industry Forecast

Businesses were then asked how they would forecast their overall profitability over the next three

months – compared to the same period last year (note that during the recession this survey ran

more frequently).

The result in this suggests a recent swing towards a more negative aspect – this could be a result

of the ongoing economic climate and continuing public sector cuts although equally may be a

result of the poor weather conditions earlier in the year or concerns over negative impacts from

the Olympics.

The “balance” currently is -11%, a small worsening from the „ambivalent‟ perspective seen in the

previous two surveys (and a significantly more negative outlook than in December 2011). Overall

though, the mood is not as negative as that seen throughout 2009 and 2010.

53%67%

59% 57% 53% 50% 52%42% 45% 41%

56%

24%35% 35% 35% 35%

27%17%

28% 13% 27% 25% 28%38% 35% 35%

22%

35%31% 31%

41% 30%

20% 17% 24%30%

21% 25% 21% 21% 20% 24% 22%

41% 35% 35%24% 24%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Ja

nu

ary

20

09

.

Fe

bru

ary

20

09

.

Ma

rch

20

09

.

Ma

y 2

00

9.

Ju

ne

20

09

.

Au

gu

st 2

00

9.

Se

pte

mb

er

20

09

.

Nove

mb

er

20

09

.

Ma

rch

20

10

.

Ju

ly 2

01

0.

Ja

nu

ary

20

11

.

Se

pte

mb

er

20

11

.

Dece

mb

er

20

11

.

Ma

rch

20

12

Au

gu

st 2

01

2

Dece

mb

er

20

12

Change in profitability; time series

Down Level Up

Local Data


c) Branding Marketing

A new question asked for this edition of the Tourism Digest, is what people think about all the

different brands that are important to the City Region.

The most common responses for this question were that people thought the most important

brands for the City Region were the „Football‟ (17%) and the „Beatles‟ (17%).

We would note though that respondents indicated that the „Golf‟ (7%) brand wasn‟t that important

to the City Region. This is after taking into account that the City Region has two Royal Golf

courses, which has held the Open Golf Championship several times over the past few years and

has many more courses spread about the City Region.

7%

8%

8%

14%

15%

16%

17%

17%

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%

Golf

World Heritage Site

Maritime

Retail Destination

Festival events

Culture

Beatles

Football

Which of these brands do you think are important for the LCR

Local Data


d) Awareness of International Festival for Business

The International Festival of Business is a global gathering of the world‟s most inspiring businesses; an arena where pivotal industries converge to trade ideas, products and contacts.

The festival will be an Olympics for business with hundreds of world-class events from June to July 2014 in Liverpool, attract a million visitors from across the globe, and bring £100 million worth of investment.

It is an urban festival of commerce, bringing together cities from the North to the South, East to West in 61 days of events, exhibitions, showcases and celebrations.

More than two thirds of Visitor Economy businesses are aware of the International Festival of

Business

Respondents who answered „Yes‟ to the previous question were then asked, if the festival would

create new opportunities for their business

As you can see 53% of respondents, indicated that new opportunities could be created during the

festival. This is compared to the 46% of respondents that agreed that the festival would create

new opportunities for the City Region.

71%

29%

International Festival for Business

Yes

No

5.9%

11.8%

29.4%

52.9%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Don't know

Not at all

Longer term

During the festival …

Do you think the International Festival for Business will create new opportunities for

your business?

13.6%

40.9%

45.5%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Don't know

Longer term

During the festival itself

Will the International Festival for Business create new opportunities for

Liverpool City Region?

Visitor Profile


3 Visitor Profile data

A number of major surveys are conducted periodically by The Liverpool LEP, which aids the

tourism intelligence of the area. These include the Liverpool City Region Visitor Survey23

and the

Destination Benchmarking24

survey. Within this section we present key data from both – be

aware the former represents the profile of visitors to the whole area, the latter just that of visitors

to the city centre.

3.1 Visitor origin

a) Day Visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of day

visitors

Visitors to

Liverpool City Centre

% of day

visitors

City Region residents 36% City Region residents 37%

Cheshire 13% Cheshire 8%

Greater Manchester 16% Greater Manchester 19%

Lancashire 13% Lancashire 15%

Cumbria <1% Cumbria 1%

Northeast <1% Northeast <1%

Yorkshire 5% Yorkshire 5%

East Midlands 3% East Midlands 1%

West Midlands 8% West Midlands 6%

London & Southeast 2% London & Southeast 2%

Southwest <1% Southwest 1%

Wales 4% Wales 2%

Scotland 1% Scotland <1%

Northern Ireland <1% Northern Ireland <1%

23

The Merseyside Visitor Survey is conducted every 5 years. Latest data is for 2010. 24

The Liverpool Destination Benchmarking study is conducted on alternate years. Latest data is for 2012

Visitor Profile


Besides those living elsewhere in the city region, there were strong levels of day visits from

Lancashire and Cheshire. To some extent these form part of the City Region‟s natural hinterland.

Other major day visitor markets included Greater Manchester and Yorkshire (the latter thanks in

part to good Trans-Pennine links); but we also see relatively high levels of day visitors from the

West Midlands.

For Wales, day visitors tend to be a reflection of visitors from the North Wales area; this

extending as far as Gwynedd, rather than the whole principality.

As indicated in the previous Digest, the timings now offered on the upgraded West Coast Main

Line mean that there were day visitors from Greater London evident too.

28%37% 39%

26% 30%

44%

64%

32% 31% 59% 56% 32%

8%

31% 29%

15% 14%24%

1% 1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Ha

lto

n

Kn

ow

sle

y

Liv

erp

oo

l

Se

fto

n

St.

He

len

s

Wirra

l

Day Visitor Origins - Summary

Overseas

Further afield UK

Elsewhere NW

Elsewhere City Region

Visitor Profile


b) Staying Visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of

staying

visitors

Visitors to


% of

staying

visitors

City Region residents 6% City Region residents 1%

Cheshire 5% Cheshire 2%

Greater Manchester 3% Greater Manchester 2%

Lancashire 5% Lancashire 1%

Cumbria <1% Cumbria 2%

Northeast 5% Northeast 2%

Yorkshire 7% Yorkshire 5%

East Midlands 9% East Midlands 4%

West Midlands 8% West Midlands 3%

London & Southeast 17% London & Southeast 13%

Southwest 4% Southwest 5%

Wales 2% Wales 2%

Scotland 3% Scotland 6%

Northern Ireland 5% Northern Ireland <1%

Overseas 22% Overseas 49%

Visitor Profile


There is a relatively low level of staying visitors from the Southwest, Northeast or Scotland; this

may owe much to relatively poor direct transport links from these locations.

There is strong evidence of London & the South East being important markets; in total, over a

fifth of all staying visitors to Liverpool (21%) came from these areas. As evidence of a growing

market, this was 15% in 2006 (more information on growth / decline by geography can be found

in the previous Digest).

Notice that overseas visitors form a very important part of the staying visitor market in Liverpool;

less so elsewhere in the city region.

c) Key Overseas Markets

As evidenced above, overseas markets form a

very important part of the inbound visitor market

for Liverpool.

Data from our Destination Benchmarking study

suggests that the following were the top origins

visiting Liverpool itself in 2012. Although

Australia may be a surprise being placed so

high on this list, data from Visit Britain has

confirmed something of a boost for visits to the

UK from that location during recent periods,

partially a result of beneficial economy

performance / exchange rates.

9%1% 2%

39%

3%

50%

18%

4%

15%

8%

13%

50%

64%

52%

71%

31%

69%

9%

43%

12%23%

15%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Ha

lto

n

Kn

ow

sle

y

Liv

erp

oo

l

Se

fto

n

St.

He

len

s

Wirra

l

Staying Visitor Origins - Summary

Overseas

Further afield UK

Elsewhere NW

Elsewhere City Region

% of all staying visitors

Eire 7%

USA 1%

Australia 3%

Germany 5%

Spain 6%

Netherland 1%

France 2%

Switzerland 1%

Austria 1%

Italy 2%

Norway <1%

Poland <1%

Visitor Profile

Digest of Tourism Statistics The Liverpool LEP March 2013 Page 31

3.2 Mode of transport

Transport mode is an important aspect of understanding the visitor market. On the one hand, it

may reflect where good linkages exist, with the potential for further visit generation; on the other

hand, coupled with visitor origin, it may reveal where markets are underperforming due to lower

than ideal levels of connectivity. This is especially important in the current climate, where twin

pressures of costs and environmental concerns influence modal choice. Below we summarise

transport choices both for day and staying visitors from key markets.

a) Modal Choice: Day Visitors

b) Modal Choice: Staying Visitors

Note: percentages may add up to more than 100% as more than one mode of transport may have been

involved in the trip. Also note that ‟ferry‟ covers both Mersey Ferry and Irish Sea routes, and that whilst

„plane‟ may relate to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, it may also reflect on other UK gateways.

39%

78% 72% 67%

47%

73% 71%

40%

34%

15%9% 22%

23%

6% 11%

50%

21%14%

6%

15%10%

15% 12% 14% 10%4%

Within LCR Cheshire Lancs. Greater Manchester

West Midlands

Yorks N Wales London & Southeast

Car/van/etc Train Scheduled Bus / Coach

Coach tour / Private hire Ferry Plane

Other

57% 49%

70%61% 65%

23%

20% 29%

16%17% 5%

11%

24%

9% 10%8%

6%10%

5%

10%

10% 14%10%

7%

42%

5%

55%40%

10%10%

6%

11%

NW England / N Wales

London & SE Midlands Yorks & NE SW England & S Wales

Ireland Overseas

Car/van/etc Train Scheduled Bus / Coach

Coach tour / Private hire Ferry Plane

Other

Visitor Profile


3.3 Purpose of visit

The data shows the key reasons behind the visit to the area. Note that this data shows the main

reasons; the survey length unfortunately means that „contributory‟ reasons were not asked. It is

worth noting that due to the survey methodology, the data shown probably „undervalues‟ the level

of business and golf/sporting trips to the city region.

Notice also that especially in the case of St.Helens, “Events” includes sporting events, such as

horse racing at Haydock Park.

a) Purpose: Day Visitors

Halton Knowsley Liverpool

Attractions 89%

VFR 3%

Explore area 3%

Attractions 82%

Events 14%

VFR 2%

Explore area 2%

Sightseeing 41%

Shopping 22%

VFR 13%

Attractions 5%

Events 5%

Sefton St.Helens Wirral

Explore area 68%

Attractions 15%

Events 4%

Shopping 8%

VFR 3%

Attractions 63%

Events 20%

Shopping 10%

VFR 5%

Explore area 2%

Attractions 46%

Explore area 45%

VFR 6%

Events 4%

Shopping 1%

b) Purpose: Staying Visitors

Halton Knowsley Liverpool

VFR 50%

Attractions 50%

Attractions 92%

VFR 8%

Sightseeing 60%

VFR 13%

Attractions 9%

Events 7%

Conferences 2%

Sefton St.Helens Wirral

Explore area 66%

VFR 15%

Events 9%

Attractions 6%

Golf 2%

VFR 60%

Events 20%

Attractions 7%

Shopping 7%

Attractions 40%

Explore area 27%

VFR 27%

Events 2%

Cycling 2%

Visitor Profile


3.4 Visitor Demographics

In terms of the visitor age / gender composition, the data comes from asking about both the

respondent and all the people in the group they were visiting the Liverpool City Region with.

a) Day visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of day

visitors

Visitors to


% of day

visitors

Children (<16) 31% Children (<16) 8%

16-24 6% 16-24 12%

25-44 28% 25-44 25%

45-64 21% 45-64 39%

65+ 15% 65+ 16%

The proportion of children amongst day visitors was relatively high (31% across the whole city

region, 8% in Liverpool City Centre) – showing especially the importance of the family market,

although clearly this is of greater significance to parts of the region outside the city centre.

Note that there was a higher level of young adults (aged 16-24 – 12%) in the city centre.

The city centre day visitor profile also showed a much higher female bias and a greater presence

in the age 45-64 groups.

15.7%

2.4%

4.3%

8.0%

5.9%

4.3%

6.7%

15.3%

3.3%

6.2%

9.1%

5.6%

5.3%

7.9%

0-15

16-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Male Female

4.4%

2.8%

4.7%

4.7%

6.9%

9.1%

5.8%

3.9%

9.4%

6.9%

8.8%

10.2%

12.7%

9.9%

0-15

16-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Male Female

Visitor Profile


b) Staying visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of day

visitors

Visitors to


% of day

visitors

Children (<16) 14% Children (<16) 4%

16-24 6% 16-24 20%

25-44 32% 25-44 32%

45-64 35% 45-64 29%

65+ 13% 65+ 15%

14% of visitors staying in the city region were children; at the other end of the scale there were

relatively low proportions aged 65 or older (13%). We see that „just‟ 4% of visitors staying in the

city itself were children, although likewise a relatively high proportion of the staying audience

were aged 65 or older (15%).

Note that just 6% of visitors staying across the whole city region were aged 16-24, although this

group is of far more importance in the city itself (20%).

The 25-44 age bracket forms a very important part of those staying in the city, an estimated 32%.

7.5%

2.6%

9.1%

8.6%

6.3%

11.2%

5.4%

7.0%

3.3%

7.0%

7.5%

8.0%

9.3%

7.3%

0-15

16-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Male Female

4.4%

2.8%

4.7%

4.7%

6.9%

9.1%

5.8%

3.9%

9.4%

6.9%

8.8%

10.2%

12.7%

3.6%

0-15

16-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Male Female

Visitor Profile


3.5 Group Type

Besides raw demographics, there is also the question as to which type of group visitors were

with. Those visiting with their children made up over half of the total day trip market in the area

(53%); those on a staying trip were most likely to be with their partner or spouse (41% - and this

is even more likely in Liverpool itself, at 50%).

a) Day visitors

b) Staying visitors

9%

53%

7%

22%

12%

1%

9%

39%

10%

24%

13%

6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

On my own With family (incl. children)

With family (excl. Children)

With partner / spouse

With friends Organised group

Whole City Region Liverpool City Centre

6%

27%

10%

41%

20%

3%

8%

16%

11%

50%

22%

3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

On my own With family (incl. children)

With family (excl. Children)

With partner / spouse

With friends Organised group

Whole City Region Liverpool City Centre

National Data


4 National data

Within this section of the report we turn to what national data tells us is happening in the visitor

economy across the country. This helps us benchmark the city region‟s current performance and

understand emerging trends. Much of this information comes from Visit Britain and Visit

England‟s tourism intelligence pages, and links to a full range of data sources are provided within

the appendix. In all cases, the data should be compared with the relevant local data, as provided

earlier in this Digest.

4.1 Occupancy trends

Source: England Occupancy Survey

National data indicates that overall for this year to date occupancy figures are slightly up

on last year (68% for August to December, compared to 65%in 2011).

This is only of course the national picture; regions most likely to have seen an ongoing

improvement were the Midlands, Southeast and East of England; London and the

Northeast both appeared to show a drop in occupancy levels in the year to date figures.

The Northwest region as a whole appeared relatively static; given the „local‟ occupancy

results reported in section 2.1, this suggests a better performance by the Liverpool City

Region than its nearby competitors.

Growth in the year to date has mainly been recorded by small towns, with what appears

to be a drop in occupancy levels for large towns and countryside locations.

Source: England Occupancy Survey

42

%

52

%

50

%

58

%

64

%

72

%

76

%

72

%

74

%

67

%

58

%

49

%

46

%

56

%

59

%

63

%

67

%

75

%

77

%

72

%

75

%

67

%

61

%

52

%

47

%

54

%

59

%

63

%

68

%

73

%

72

%

73

%

77

%

71

%

64

%

56

%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%


England Hotel Room Occupancy Monthly Trends

2010 2011 2012

70% 53% 51% 51%73% 60% 54% 56%64% 51% 43% 45%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

City / Large town Small town Seaside Countryside

Room occupancy (Aug - Dec)

2010 2011 2012

National Data


4.2 Visits to attractions trends

The chart below highlights changes in visitor growth to different attraction genres across the

country. We note first of all that overall there have been three consecutive years where

attractions have recorded growth in visits – a net 5% of all attractions showed growth increasing

visitor numbers from 2010 to 2011, building on a 3% rise the previous year and 5% in the year

before that.

Source: Annual England Attractions Survey

The graph suggests that over the last year growth across England has been strongest in

visits to, Gardens, Historic Houses, Other Historic Properties and Places of worship. In the

case of the former group, it is possible that this is connected to the current ongoing popularity

of costume dramas such as “Downton Abbey”. There has also been strong growth in visitor

numbers at Wildlife attractions.

Growth has been weakest for Steam / Heritage Railways – and a relatively neutral

experience for Museums and Art Galleries.

Note that despite the economic climate, +6% of paid attractions recorded a rise in

admissions, against +1% of free attractions.

5%

2%

6%

10% 12%

1%

1%

3%

7%

5%

2%

2%

6%

9%

3% 4%

-5%

-6%

1%

15

%

-1%

5%

1%

-3%

-3%

4%

4%

2%

5%

4% 5%

9%

6%

9%

2%

-1%

-3%

2%

9%

0%

7%

3%

-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

En

gla

nd

ave

rag

e

Cou

ntr

y p

ark

s

Fa

rms

Ga

rde

ns

His

tori

c h

ou

se

s/c

astles

Oth

er

his

tori

c p

rop

ert

ies

Le

isu

re/t

he

me

pa

rks

Mu

se

um

s/a

rt g

alle

rie

s

Ste

am

/he

rita

ge

ra

ilwa

ys

Vis

ito

r/h

eri

tage

ce

ntr

es

Wild

life

att

ractio

ns/z

oo

s

Work

pla

ces

Pla

ce

s o

f w

ors

hip

Oth

er

% o

f a

ttra

cti

on

s r

ep

ort

ing

a r

ise

/dro

p in

ad

mis

sio

ns

Year on year change in visits to attractions, England

2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011

National Data


4.3 Domestic visitors (GBTS)

a) Overall results

The Great Britain Tourist Survey (GBTS) is

the main measure of the national volume of

domestic tourism and is supported by the

national tourist boards. GBTS25

measures

overnight trips, rather than the total domestic

market.

Data from the Great Britain Tourism Survey

(GBTS) indicates that Liverpool was the 9th

most visited town/city in England by domestic

tourists26,

with an estimated 1,428,000

overnight trips. This is an increase in one

rank position from that seen in 2010.

It is worth noting that as an absolute volume,

this places Liverpool as being statistically

similar to those destinations in 7th and 8

th

place in the rankings.

Top 20 most visited English Cities & Towns by UK residents

2009 2010 2011

Town/City

Visits

(000s) Town/City

Visits

(000s) Town/City

Visits

(000s)

1 London 10,795 1 London 11,580 1 London 11,093

2 Manchester 2,743 2 Manchester 2,177 2 Manchester 2,613

3 Birmingham 2,358 3 Birmingham 2,059 3 Birmingham 2,251

4 Scarborough 1,765 4 Blackpool 1,717 4 Bristol 1,828

5 Bristol 1,761 5 Scarborough 1,495 5 Scarborough 1,645

6 Blackpool 1,504 6 Bristol 1,490 6 York 1,615

7 York 1,418 7 Leeds 1,478 7 Leeds 1,493

8 Leeds 1,378 8 York 1,374 8 Blackpool 1,478

9 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1,351 9 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1,244 9 Liverpool 1,428

10 Brighton and Hove 1,302 10 Liverpool 1,194 10 Newcastle upon Tyne 1,303

11 Isle of Wight 1,218 11 Isle of Wight 1,042 11 Sheffield 1,293

12 Liverpool 1,204 12 Skegness 1,012 12 Brighton and Hove 1,096

13 Nottingham 1,047 13 Nottingham 928 13 Nottingham 1,066

14 Sheffield 1,042 14 Bournemouth 925 14 Isle of Wight 1,053

15 Skegness 1,035 15 Brighton and Hove 921 15 Bournemouth 1,051

16 Bournemouth 922 16 Norwich 842 16 Skegness 992

17 Southampton 892 17 Sheffield 816 17 Southampton 973

18 Great Yarmouth 826 18 Southampton 759 18 Norwich 934

19 Oxford 811 19 Bath 710 19 Cambridge 769

20 Plymouth 724 20 Oxford 700 20 Plymouth 745

Source: GBTS, Visit England

25

Note that the GBTS is primarily a national survey and not as accurate at destination level; whilst we would use our STEAM numbers at local level, the rank order is useful. 26

Defined as staying visitors from England, Scotland and Wales; those from Northern Ireland are no longer included in the survey (to reflect this, the survey is now known as “GBTS” – previously it was “UKTS”).

11

,09

3

2,6

13

2,2

51

1,8

28

1,6

45

1,6

15

1,4

93

1,4

78

1,4

28

1,3

03

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Lo

nd

on

Ma

nch

este

r

Bir

min

gh

am

Bri

sto

l

Sca

rbo

rou

gh

Yo

rk

Le

ed

s

Bla

ckp

oo

l

Liv

erp

oo

l

New

ca

stle

up

on

Tyn

e

Top Towns: Staying visits (000s) by GB residents


National Data


b) Results from different markets

The data shows that Liverpool is ranked 10th for “pure holiday visits” – this is the same rank as

achieved last year but the information within the survey suggests significant increase in visits.

The city is ranked 8th though for business visits – this is a big uplift from last year (when it was

ranked 10th) and may reflect on major conferences in the city.


c) Trends

Looking at the national trends observed by

the GBTS, it appears that there has been

strong growth in holiday overnight visits

(possibly including the „staycation‟ impact).

Against this, during the recession period, it

seems that both „VFR‟ and staying business

trips showed significant drops. These

markets showed strong recovery during

2011, although both remained below

historic levels.

Early messages for 2012 indicate that “pure

holiday trips” may have been affected by

the poor weather conditions experienced

during the middle part of the year.


A fuller briefing note on key messages from the GBTS is

available on request from the LEP.

3,704

1,256

1,209

924

902

816

738

686

553

549

0 500 1,000 1,500

London

Scarborough

Blackpool

Manchester

Skegness

York

Isle of Wight

Bournemouth

Great Yarmouth

Liverpool

Top Towns: Pure holiday staying trips (000s)

2,860

786

630

514

357

273

244

243

232

211

0 200 400 600 800

London

Birmingham

Manchester

Bristol

Newcastle upon Tyne

Nottingham

York

Liverpool

Leeds

Cambridge

Top Towns: Business staying trips (000s)

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Ch

an

ge

fro

m 2

00

6 (

10

0 =

"N

o c

ha

ng

e")

GBTS: Trends

Holidays VFR Business

National Data


15

,28

9

1,3

42

93

4

73

3

54

5

47

5

48

5

43

0

38

7

30

6

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

Lo

nd

on

Ed

inb

urg

h

Ma

nch

este

r

Bir

min

gh

am

Liv

erp

oo

l

Gla

sg

ow

Oxfo

rd

Bri

sto

l

Ca

mb

rid

ge

Le

ed

s

Top towns: Staying Visits (000s) by overseas visitors (IPS)

4.4 Inbound visitors (IPS)

a) Overall results

The International Passenger Survey is conducted

by ONS on behalf of Visit Britain. Passengers

arriving through major airports (including LJLA),

seaports and the Channel Tunnel are surveyed.

The survey shows that Liverpool‟s ongoing

growth as a visitor destination means it is now the

5th

-most visited city in Britain by overseas

residents. This is the highest position the city has

attained, having been 6th since 2005.

The city recorded approximately 545,000

overseas staying visits in 2011, and is only

behind London, Edinburgh, Manchester and

Birmingham.

In terms of geographically close „competitors‟

(who might also feed our day visits market),

Manchester recorded an estimated 936,000

overseas staying visits and Chester 135,000.

Source: IPS, VisitBritain / ONS

Top 20 most visited UK Cities & Towns by Overseas residents

2009 2010 2011

Town/City

Visits

(000s) Town/City

Visits

(000s) Town/City

Visits

(000s)

1 London 14,211 1 London 14706 1 London 15289

2 Edinburgh 1,324 2 Edinburgh 1305 2 Edinburgh 1342

3 Manchester 800 3 Manchester 811 3 Manchester 934

4 Birmingham 709 4 Birmingham 740 4 Birmingham 733

5 Glasgow 623 5 Glasgow 551 5 Liverpool 545

6 Liverpool 458 6 Liverpool 452 6 Glasgow 475

7 Bristol 421 7 Oxford 412 7 Oxford 465

8 Oxford 416 8 Bristol 377 8 Bristol 430

9 Cambridge 400 9 Cambridge 367 9 Cambridge 387

10 Brighton / Hove 330 10 Brighton / Hove 303 10 Leeds 306

11 Cardiff 313 11 Bath 263 11 Brighton / Hove 304

12 Inverness 248 12 Cardiff 260 12 Cardiff 291

13 Nottingham 244 13 Inverness 238 13 Aberdeen 250

14 Leeds 231 14 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 224 14 Nottingham 244

15 Aberdeen 216 15 Nottingham 224 15 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 239

16 York 215 16 York 224 16 Bath 232

17 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 213 17 Leeds 213 17 York 222

18 Bath 212 18 Aberdeen 168 18 Inverness 215

19 Canterbury 197 19 Southampton 164 19 Windsor 211

20 Reading 187 20 Windsor 162 20 Canterbury 191


National Data


b) Results from different markets

It is always useful to view the information by purpose of visit, and this shows that Liverpool is

currently placed 5th in terms of pure holiday visits – with c.188,000 staying visits it is not that far

behind Manchester in this regards.

The city is currently ranked 6th

in terms of “Visiting Friends and relatives”

It is, however, placed lower in terms of business trips, being ranked 7th

; an undoubted impact of

the city‟s lower business base, although this is an improvement on earlier years.

It is also worth noting that Liverpool is ranked 3rd

for international staying visits when viewing the „other‟ visit purpose category. What this topic actually includes is varied, but amongst items to be considered here are: Attending events (including sports); Trips where both work and holiday are the main reason; connecting to other ferries / flights / cruises.


7,577

898

251

212

188

183

180

148

143

143

0 200 400 600 800 1,000

London

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Manchester

Liverpool

Inverness

Oxford

Birmingham

Bath

Brighton / Hove

Top Towns: Pure holiday staying trips (000s)

3,399

248

246

175

162

153

130

122

110

108

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

London

Manchester

Edinburgh

Birmingham

Bristol

Liverpool

Cambridge

Oxford

Nottingham

Leeds

Top Towns: VFR staying trips (000s)

2,980

357

318

158

106

105

101

100

98

98

0 100 200 300 400

London

Birmingham

Manchester

Edinburgh

Bristol

Cambridge

Liverpool

Leeds

Oxford

Aberdeen

Top Towns: Business staying trips (000s)

1,122

149

100

44

29

27

27

22

19

17

0 50 100 150 200

London

Manchester

Liverpool

Birmingham

Edinburgh

Oxford

Leeds

Cambridge

Glasgow

Newcastle

Top Towns: "Other purpose" (000s)

National Data


c) Trends

Looking at the trends reported nationally by

the survey, this suggests an ongoing growth in

„pure holiday‟ overseas visits to the UK.

Much as with the domestic market though

(see section 4.3) the level of staying visits

generated by both VFR and business

purposes showed large drops during the

recession period. Again, these now show

significant levels of recovery, but currently

remain below historic levels.

Future growth may depend not just on

success in attracting these markets to the UK,

but also on the performance of origin markets‟

economies, and this is explored in section 5.2.


Over the last few years, key growing markets have tended to be led by those countries with the

strongest economies – with recent evidence of growth from some of the emerging economies.

Germany and the Netherlands – both countries with relatively strong economic performance –

have generated growth in the Liverpool City Region visitor market. However amongst the

„emerging economies‟ we also see growth from Russia and India (the sample size for China and

Brazil is too low to determine local trends with any accuracy).

A fuller briefing note on key messages from the IPS is

available on request from the LEP.

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Ch

an

ge

fro

m 2

00

6 (

10

0 =

"N

o c

ha

ng

e")

IPS: Trends

Holiday VFR Business

Growth markets - local

Fastest growing City Region visitor markets

2009-11 (current levels shown in brackets):

Russia >100% (2,700)

Denmark 25% (5,100)

Germany 15% (35,500)

Netherlands 14% (32,100)

India 10% (3,000)

Ireland 8% (130,900)

UAE 8% (4,700)

Japan 2% (3,900)

Growth markets - national

Fastest growing UK „pure holiday‟ markets 2009-11

By growth rate By volume change

South Korea >50% Italy +146,000

Brazil >50% Australia +144,000

Russia >50% Sweden +100,000

China >50% Brazil +92,000

India >50% Belgium +60,000

Chile >50% Norway +51,000

Singapore 50% South Korea +47,000

Argentina 50% India +46,000

Finland 46% Russia +42,000

Sweden 42% Canada +40,000

Forecasts


5 Forecasts

5.1 Trends from the Liverpool City Region 3-year Action Plan

The visitor economy has seen strong growth over the last few years, as evidenced earlier in this

Digest. Despite current economic conditions, strong growth is still expected from the sector. The

graph below shows the expected trends (indexed to 2006). Figures have been updated from the

previous Digest, following the latest STEAM data (as noted in section 1) and known hotel

developments.

Source: Destination Management Plan

Certain components of change we already know; below we summarise the key hotel

developments, both currently under way and those planned over the next few years.

Source: Tourist board hotel stock data

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

20

16

20

17

20

18

20

19

20

20

20

21

20

22

20

23

Ch

an

ge

(in

de

xe

d t

o 2

00

6)

Tourism growth trend - Liverpool City Region

Staying Visitors Day Visitors

5,0

62

5,7

17

6,0

67

4,6

11

4,8

05

4,8

65

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

2012 2013 2014

Hotel room stock


43

45

52

85

88

89

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2012 2013 2014

Hotel establishments


Forecasts


5.2 Economic outlook 2012

A key driver of what happens in the visitor economy is clearly going to be that of the wider

economy. For this, we turn to the outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is a

tool updated twice a year – latest data is shown as updated at April 2012. There are a number of

different measures which can be used, but in order to gain a view as to overall economic health,

we view changes in the unemployment rate and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.

In the tables below, we show details for this indexed to 2007 (i.e., pre-recession), both for the UK

and key inbound markets. In the case of the unemployment rate, this should be expected to

decrease in an improving economy and GDP per capita would be expected to increase.

(Figures colourised where greater than 5% positive / negative change relative to 2007)

Unemployment rate

Year UK Eire Spain France Germany USA Netherlands Poland Norway Italy Australia

2007 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 2008 102.9 138.3 137.1 93.3 86.5 125.6 85.7 74.1 103.3 111.0 97.7 2009 138.1 258.5 218.0 113.5 88.1 200.9 104.3 85.0 125.6 127.4 128.1 2010 145.5 298.0 242.8 117.2 80.4 208.5 124.7 100.2 142.6 137.0 119.6 2011 148.3 314.6 261.9 115.6 68.1 193.8 125.8 100.5 130.5 136.8 116.8

2012 153.0 315.9 292.9 118.7 63.5 176.7 153.8 97.7 143.3 155.3 118.8

2013 151.4 302.6 289.2 120.3 62.4 170.6 153.8 94.9 139.3 158.9 119.1 2014 144.9 283.4 275.9 117.1 60.4 161.9 148.2 92.1 139.3 160.6 110.5 2015 136.3 263.1 265.0 112.9 59.9 150.6 139.8 89.2 139.3 153.9 107.6 2016 129.2 244.9 249.3 109.3 59.4 137.4 125.8 86.4 139.3 145.1 107.6 2017 125.8 229.1 229.9 105.6 58.9 125.3 111.9 93.0 139.3 132.0 107.6

Source: IMF World Outlook, IMF / Visit Britain

GDP per capita

Year UK Eire Spain France Germany USA Netherlands Poland Norway Italy Australia

2007 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 2008 100.4 97.3 101.3 101.5 103.2 100.9 103.7 107.4 100.8 100.2 102.5 2009 96.4 90.7 97.4 99.3 99.3 97.6 100.6 110.2 99.0 95.0 103.1 2010 98.9 91.1 98.1 101.6 104.2 100.9 102.9 115.8 99.5 97.4 105.5 2011 100.9 91.5 100.5 105.0 109.6 104.1 105.9 124.2 102.0 99.4 108.5

2012 102.4 93.3 99.5 106.4 111.9 106.7 106.3 130.2 103.9 98.3 111.9

2013 105.3 97.6 100.7 108.6 115.5 109.9 108.5 136.7 106.5 99.1 116.1 2014 108.9 102.2 103.0 111.7 119.0 113.7 111.3 144.1 109.1 100.7 120.4 2015 112.8 107.5 105.9 115.2 122.7 118.2 114.9 152.4 112.1 103.0 125.1 2016 116.9 112.8 109.0 118.8 126.5 123.1 118.7 161.1 115.1 105.6 129.9 2017 121.8 118.9 112.7 122.9 130.9 128.5 123.1 170.8 118.5 108.6 135.4

Source: IMF World Outlook, IMF / Visit Britain

Thus, at the moment, in terms of GDP growth, the UK looks like returning to pre recession levels

around 2013, whilst other economies – notably Ireland, but also Spain and Italy – may take a

longer time. This could impact on inbound visitors; but likewise a poor-performing domestic

economy is likely to see the continued strength of „staycations‟ – although of course the poorer

weather conditions seen in 2012 may now mitigate against this.

Articles


6 Articles

6.1 The importance of events

As indicated in sections 2.5 and 3.3, events are an important part of what the City Region offers

as a visitor destination. The tourist board maintains a database of key events where research has

been conducted, and the following section of the Digest provides a summary of what this event

„benchmark‟ tells us about the importance of the events market. Again, as with much of visitor

research, this data excludes those who were residents of the district where the event was held.

Note: For event organisers, England‟s Northwest Research Service can provide a service

benchmarking their own event against details of this database, including satisfaction scores, visitor

profiles, origins, marketing channels used and economic impact.

a) Audience Origin

Obviously, much will depend on the genre of event,

but it is clear that the events held in the city region

see a wide audience from different geographies.

Naturally, there is a strong attendance from within

the city region and its hinterland (including North

Wales), but we also see visitors from further afield.

Especially strong here are the London and

Southeast areas, but in truth visitors from all areas of

the UK were recorded at the events.

Note that an estimated 9% of all event attendees

came from overseas. This reflects on the wide range

of visitors indicated as visiting the destination (see

section 3.1), and covers (amongst others) Ireland,

North America and Western Europe.

Cheshire, 10%Greater

Manchester, 11%

Lancashire, 11%

Elsewhere UK, 22%

Overseas, 9%

Halton, 3%Knowsley, 5%

Liverpool, 5%

Sefton, 10%

St.Helens, 4%

Wirral, 10%

Liverpool City Region,

37%

Origin - all event attendees

Articles


b) Demographics

There are also a wide range of visitors evident from different age groups attending the city region

events, and this is highlighted below. Again, we would emphasise that this is an overall

benchmark, and we would expect significant variance by event genre.

As in the overall visitor profile, we can see

that the family audience is clearly strong

(13% of all event attendees being children

under the age of 16). This is an aspect

which we may have expected to be higher

than in previous years, given the ongoing

trend for „Staycations‟ and „Daycations‟; the

squeeze on household budgets means

families look for free and value for money

activities/trips closer to home.

Age Group % of all event

attendees

Children (<16) 13%

Aged 16-24 16%

Aged 25-44 31%

Aged 45-64 27%

Aged 65+ 12%

c) Satisfaction with events in the City Region

Overall event attendees showed high satisfaction levels – and this was especially the case

regarding the suitability of venues and overall enjoyment.

Two areas that consistently emerge as messages for event organisers are levels of publicity and

promotion (this especially being mentioned by visitors staying in the area who „happened‟ upon

the event, not realising it was taking place) and signposting. For out-of-town events, signposting

was commented on by motorists; for those based in town centres, inadequate signage from

public transport terminals was the main issue.

36% 92% 89% 29% 86% 84% 73% 43% 37% 32%

-1% -1% -1% -1% -1% -2% -3% -5% -24% -32%

Pu

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Su

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Pa

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Pu

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Negative

Positive

1.9%

2.4%

2.3%

8.2%

6.9%

8.0%

7.2%

6.0%

5.4%

2.2%

2.5%

2.1%

8.2%

7.3%

8.6%

7.3%

6.8%

6.7%

0 to 5

6 to 10

11 to 15

16 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65+

Male Female

Articles


d) The Geographical ‘draw’ of events

We have already seen above the origin of all

attendees, but a crucial part of understanding the

impact of any event is to view the origin of those

drawn to the destination specifically by the event.

Perhaps as might be expected, the „draw‟ is more

likely to include those who are local to the area and

its hinterland; 45% of those attending events came

from within the City Region, with a further 32%

coming from other parts of Northwest England.

This should not be to deny the significant numbers

coming from further afield though. In terms of those

associated with the day visitor markets, events drew

in numbers from the West Midlands, Yorkshire and

North Wales; whilst looking at staying visitors we

see a significant presence of visitors from London

and overseas (6% of event attendees attracted to

the city region primarily by events came from

overseas markets).

Cheshire, 11%

Greater Manchester, 10%

Lancashire, 10%

Elsewhere UK, 17%

Overseas, 6%

Halton, 3%

Knowsley, 6%

Liverpool, 5%

Sefton, 12%

St.Helens, 5%

Wirral, 12%

Liverpool City Region, 45%

Origin - attendees 'drawn' by events

Articles


e) Spend of event visitors

Undoubtedly, events can have a significant economic impact on an area, and at least partially

this comes from the expenditure that they made during their visit. Here we focus on the spend

made by those groups of visitors who indicated that the event had been their main reason for

visiting the area; with many events in the area taking place in the public realm, there can often be

many “passers-by” amongst those attending, including shoppers and sightseers to name two; it

would be an unfair evaluation to count these towards an economic impact.

Staying visitors drawn to the city region by events spent (on average) £141.77 per

person on their trip.

Day visitors drawn to the city region by events spent (on average) £33.80 per person

on their trip.

As a general comment, in the current economic climate these spend levels may be depressed

below what otherwise would be seen. Also be aware that the staying visitor average expenditure

will include those staying „for free‟ with friends and family, as well as those using „paid‟

accommodation such as hotels and serviced apartments.

£38.71

£25.60

£39.77

£10.43

£14.94

£17.24

£10.26

£11.46

£3.05

£4.40

£3.42

£0 £10 £20 £30 £40 £50

Accommodation

Shopping

Food & drink

Entertainment & attractions

Travel & transport

Other spend

Mean spend per person drawn by event

Ca

teg

ory

of

ex

pe

nd

itu

re


Articles


6.2 Tourism Business Confidence – Nationally

Data from Visit England provides a barometer in terms of national business performance; at

different points in the year 500 accommodation providers and 300 visitor attractions are asked for

their recent performance and expectations for the short-term. To some extent this can be

contrasted with the LEPs own „How‟s Business‟ survey (see section 2.8).

a) Performance of the Domestic Visitor market

Source: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor, Wave 4 2012

The data seems to suggest that nationally visitor

attractions have seen a more optimistic year

than accommodation providers in terms of

domestic visitors. For both market sectors the

period up to and including the summer showed a

drop in domestic trade – this may be connected

both to the Olympics and weather conditions.

Significantly, September suggested a return to a

more positive trend.

Note also that the result within the Liverpool City

Region tended to mirror the national levels for

domestic visitors, with a net „ambivalent‟ mood.

Sources: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor

/ LEP “How‟s Business” Survey

26% 22% 14% 18% 24%

-28% -35% -41% -38% -35%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

Accommodation providers

Down

Up

28% 30% 17% 23% 26%

-11% -20% -29% -18% -14%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

Attractions

Down

Up

24% 26% 22%

-35% -14% -35%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

En

gla

nd

Acco

m.

En

gla

nd

Att

ractio

ns

LC

R B

usin

esse

s

Comparison:

Down

Up

Articles


b) Performance of the Overseas Visitor market


When switching to look at the experience of the

overseas visitor market, data seems to suggest

that nationally performance has dropped

throughout the year (although as we saw when

looking at domestic visitors, the experience of

visitor attractions has been more positive than

accommodation providers.) Verbatim comments

seem to associate some of this downturn with

the Olympics.

Comparing the results with the local data

suggests that the Liverpool City Region has

tended to outperform national levels in terms of

growth of overseas visitors.

Sources: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor

/ LEP “How‟s Business” Survey

25% 23% 22% 19% 21%

-21% -30% -32% -34% -33%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%


Down

Up

21% 28% 25% 23% 25%

-22% -24% -22% -30% -23%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

Attractions

Down

Up

21% 23% 14%

-33% -25% -36%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

En

gla

nd

Acco

m.

En

gla

nd

Att

ractio

ns

LC

R B

usin

esse

s

Comparison:

Down

Up

Articles


c) Business confidence


When asked about their expectations for the next period, businesses nationally – both

accommodation and attractions – appeared significantly more likely in September to have

positive expectations, after falling confidence levels in the early surveys. This may suggest a

return to levels of growth.

41% 32% 28% 32% 25%

42%

48%46%

50%48%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Ea

ste

r 2

01

2

Ju

n-1

2

Ju

l-1

2

Se

p-1

2

No

v-1

2


Very confident Fairly confident

29% 24% 16% 27% 34%

58%60%

65%

58%51%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Ea

ste

r 2

01

2

Ju

n-1

2

Ju

l-1

2

Se

p-1

2

No

v-1

2

Attractions

Very confident Fairly confident

Articles


6.3 News

In response to requests from some of our businesses, within this section of the report we present

some of the key aspects that have impacted on the local visitor economy over the last 12 months

and look at some of the known milestones in the year ahead. We also indicate some of the

current activity by the research team, which may be of interest.

Clearly we cannot cover every single one of the many items involved, but if you know of

something which should be included here, do let us know about it.

a) The Past 12 Months

Hotel Openings

Jun 2011 Hotel Indigo, Chapel Street, opens – 151 rooms.

Jul 2011 Travelodge, New Brighton, opens – 66 rooms.

Feb 2012 Travelodge, The Strand, opens – 141 rooms.

May 2012: Holiday Inn Express, Hoylake, opens – 56 rooms

Major new events:

Oct 2011: Inaugural Liverpool Marathon:

The first ever Liverpool Marathon, starting in Birkenhead Park and finishing on

the Liverpool Waterfront, recorded over 5,000 runners and was cheered on by

thousands of spectators.

Apr 2012: Giant Spectacular:

A three-day piece of street theatre featuring three giant puppets and inspired by

the Titanic, watched by an estimated 600,000 people.

May-Aug 2012: Rolf Harris: Can you tell what it is yet?

A major retrospective of the artist / musician / TV personality, featuring

paintings, memorabilia and more at the Walker Art Gallery; recording very high

visitor numbers.

Other:

Nov 2011: Open Eye Gallery moves to key waterfront location

Mar 2012: KLM air link to Amsterdam closes.

Jan 2012: Wirral officially opens the “Wirral Circular Trail”, a 35-mile cycling and walking

trail skirting the coastline and taking in key parts of Wirral‟s countryside.

Apr 2012: Stena complete £4m upgrade of passenger ferries on its Liverpool

(Birkenhead)-Belfast route

May 2012 First „turnaround‟ cruise departs Liverpool Cruise terminal, following DfT

approval and construction of check-in facilities.

Articles


b) The next 12 months

Hotel Openings

Mar 2013: Adagio, Lewis‟s Building, due to open (126 rooms)

Apr 2013: Signature Hotel, due to open (12 units)

Apr 2013: Travelodge, Exchange Street East, due to open (125 rooms)

Apr 2013: The Richmond, Hatton Gardens, due to open (51 rooms)

Apr 2013: 2 Liverpool Hotels, due to open

July 2013: Hoax, 5 star, hostel, Stanley Street (282 rooms)

Aug 2013: Ibis Dale Street due to open (122 rooms)

Oct 2013: Doubletree by Hilton, due to open (87 rooms)

Major events:

Mar 2013: Festival of Enterprise

April 2013 John Smiths Grand National, Aintree

May 2013: 70th Anniversary, Battle of the Atlantic

Jun 2013: UNISON Conference at the BT Convention Centre

Jun 2013: Mersey River Festival

Jun-Oct 2013: Mark Chagall exhibition at Tate Liverpool

August 2013: Liverpool International Music Festival

Other:

Apr 2013: Norwegian Airlines inaugural service from Copenhagen to Liverpool

May 2013: The Atkinson, Southport opens

c) Research Activity

The following is activity underway by the research team on behalf of the tourist board:

Hotel Occupancy interpretation

STEAM data collection

Appendices


Appendix i: Further reference sources

http://liverpoollep.org/

The homepage of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise

Partnership, with links to all the documents we produce.

http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/

The research part of the VisitEngland website; includes many

useful research elements included the short-term tourism tracker,

England Occupancy Survey (EOS) and attractions monitor.

http://www.visitbritain.org/

The trade website for VisitBritain; you can follow a link on this

page to “Insights & Statistics” for the national market research

they gather, which includes inbound visitor statistics and domestic

tourism statistics, as well as useful country profiles.

http://www.caa.co.uk/airportstatistics

The Civil Aviation Authority has pages containing details of all

UK airport passenger numbers (including Liverpool John Lennon

Airport) both in total and by route.

http://www.etc-corporate.org/

The European Travel Commission; aimed at industry,

government and educational personnel interested in tourism to

Europe, with link to market intelligence reports and studies.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home

Eurostat – the official statistics website from the European

Commission, including a section of the website devoted to

tourism with statistics and publications.

http://www.liv.ac.uk/impacts08/

Impacts 08 – European Capital of Culture research programme

evaluating the social, cultural, economic and environmental

effects of Liverpool‟s hosting the European Capital of Culture title

in 2008. Reports available for download.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

The UK Statistics Authority; contains details and links to a

range of information resources across all topics and areas.

For transport-related data visit www.dft.gov.uk

For labour market data visit www.nomisweb.co.uk

http://liverpoollep.org/

http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/


http://www.caa.co.uk/airportstatistics

http://www.etc-corporate.org/

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home

http://www.liv.ac.uk/impacts08/

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

http://www.dft.gov.uk/

http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/

http://liverpoollep.org/default.aspx


http://www.caa.co.uk/

http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/

Appendices


Appendix ii: SIC codes defining the visitor economy

The Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC) shown below are those which are chosen as best

representing the visitor economy. Inevitably, there will be some overlap, with some businesses in these

sectors performing wholly non-tourism related functions and some businesses in sectors not included

having a tourism focus.

4932 : Taxi operation

5010 : Sea and coastal passenger water transport

5030 : Inland passenger water transport

5510 : Hotels and similar accommodation

5520 : Holiday and other short stay accommodation

5530 : Camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks

5590 : Other accommodation

5610 : Restaurants and mobile food service activities

5621 : Event catering activities

5629 : Other food service activities

5630 : Beverage serving activities

7711 : Renting and leasing of cars and light motor vehicles

7721 : Renting and leasing of recreational and sports goods

7912 : Tour operator activities

7990 : Other reservation service and related activities

8230 : Convention and trade show organizers

9001 : Performing arts

9002 : Support activities to performing arts

9003 : Artistic creation

9004 : Operation of arts facilities

9102 : Museum activities

9103 : Operation of historical sites and buildings & similar visitor attractions

9104 : Botanical and zoological gardens and nature reserve activities

9311 : Operation of sports facilities

9321 : Activities of amusement parks and theme parks

9329 : Other amusement and recreation activities

For full detail of all SIC codes and their structure, the following document may be of use:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/downloads/sic2007explanatorynotes.pdf

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/downloads/sic2007explanatorynotes.pdf

Appendices


Table 1. Confidence in a single percentage result.

The +/- figures show the variation around the result (left hand column) that applies for each chosen

sample size. Thus a survey result of 40% from a sample of 500 would mean that we were 95%

confident that the true result across the whole population lies between 35.7% and 44.3%.

% result Sample Size

100 200 500 1,000 5,000

50% +/- 9.8% +/- 6.9% +/- 4.4% +/- 3.1% +/- 1.4%

40% / 60% +/- 9.6% +/- 6.8% +/- 4.3% +/- 3.0% +/- 1.4%

30% / 70% +/- 9.0% +/- 6.4% +/- 4.0% +/- 2.8% +/- 1.3%

20% / 80% +/- 7.8% +/- 5.5% +/- 3.5% +/- 2.5% +/- 1.1%

10% / 90% +/- 5.9% +/- 4.2% +/- 2.6% +/- 1.9% +/- 0.8%

5% / 95% +/- 4.3% +/- 3.0% +/- 1.9% +/- 1.4% +/- 0.6%

Table 2. Confidence in a difference between two percentage results.

The +/- figures show the difference from the first result (left hand column) that the second result needs

to display. Thus if the first survey result was 40% from a sample of 500, the second result would have

to be either over 46.1% or under 33.9% for us to be 95% confident that there was a true difference in

the population at large.

% result Sample Size

100 200 500 1,000 5,000

50% +/-13.9% +/- 9.8% +/- 6.2% +/- 4.4% +/- 2.0%

40% / 60% +/-13.6% +/- 9.6% +/- 6.1% +/- 4.3% +/- 1.9%

30% / 70% +/-12.7% +/- 9.0% +/- 5.7% +/- 4.0% +/- 1.8%

20% / 80% +/-11.1% +/- 7.8% +/- 5.0% +/- 3.5% +/- 1.6%

10% / 90% +/- 8.3% +/- 5.9% +/- 3.7% +/- 2.6% +/- 1.1%

5% / 95% +/- 6.0% +/- 4.3% +/- 2.7% +/- 1.9% +/- 0.9%

Appendix iii: Crude guide to statistical confidence levels

In much of the survey data that is presented within the Digest and other research publications, the results

are indicative of the views, activities and behaviour of respondents. The question arises at some point as

to how likely are these results to apply to the “universe”; what is the potential that those surveyed are not

truly representative of the population as a whole?

There are two tables shown. The first gives the range around a particular percentage result within which

one can be confident that the true result across the whole population lies; the second shows the minimum

difference you would need between two results to be confident that there was really a difference.

These tables are based on the following assumptions:

o The samples have been randomly drawn (in actuality this is never true in survey research,

because there is always an element of refusal to cooperate - but, for practical purposes it is

standard to assume that it is true).

o The degree of confidence is 95%. This means that there is still a 5% chance that the result is

outside of the range by chance. 95% is used as it has become the convention in balancing

degree of confidence against cost of data collection.

27

27

Footnote to this table. These are approximations - for guidance only. The precise difference required for the

second percentage will vary with whether it is below or above the first percentage)

Appendices


Appendix iv: Details of available publications

A. Tourism publications

The following documents are available to download by going to the visitor economy section of our

website at http://liverpoollep.org/priorities/visitor_economy.aspx

Destination Plans:

Liverpool City Region 3 year Action Plan

Liverpool City Region Visitor Economy Strategy to 2020

Research:

The latest research publications, including the Digest will also be kept here.

Other news:

“The Biz” – publication featuring news and views for tourism businesses across the

Liverpool City Region,

B. Other publications

The following documents are available to download from the Key Documents section of the

website at http://liverpoollep.org/about_lep/key_documents.aspx

You can also Visit the Facts and Figures section of VisitLiverpool.biz:

http://visitliverpool.biz

Research:

Economic Review 2012

Sectors

Visitor Economy 3 Year Action Plan

Low Carbon Economy Action Plan

Superport Action Plan

Knowledge Economy Plan

Please note: content on the website is subject to updates and restructure; downloads available by the time

this Digest is issued may reflect more recent version of the above.

http://liverpoollep.org/priorities/visitor_economy.aspx

http://liverpoollep.org/about_lep/key_documents.aspx

http://visitliverpool.biz/


England's Northwest Research Service provides a comprehensive service designed

to provide the best intelligence for businesses within the City Region and further

afield, with a particular focus on sectors connected to tourism and economic

development.

The in-house research agency provides a wide

range of market research services to an array of

clients across the Northwest of England. The service

produces exceptional bespoke market research

tailored to organisations‟ needs which is value

driven. Effective research can provide the foundation

for understanding your customers/clients, gathering

up-to-date market information, reviewing options,

allowing for objective and informed decision making.

Amongst our services are:

• Satisfaction surveys

• Marketing impact studies

• Economic impact assessment

• Branding and positioning research

• Customer segmentation

• Event evaluation

• Benchmarking

• Economic reviews

• Proposition testing

• Geographic-based research

Research is undertaken in a variety of ways

dependant on the project and may include face-to-

face fieldwork, web/email surveys, postal surveys,

omnibus studies, depth interviews, desk research,

focus groups and hall tests.

Over the past five years the research service has

conducted more than 200 studies, with clients

including: Tate Liverpool, MerseyBio, The National

Trust, National Museums Liverpool, Merseytravel,

Heineken and Albert Dock (Gower St Estates).

Research Opportunities

Priced on request dependant on requirements

Sponsored Questions

There are also opportunities to buy into dedicated

visitor surveys which include:

• Gateway survey

• Destination benchmarking

• Tourism business performance survey

This Digest has been compiled by England‟s Northwest Research Service, the in-house research team

at the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership. The team produce numerous key publications

for the region, including the annual Economic Review, as well as managing many regular research

projects including Liverpool Destination Benchmarking and the Liverpool John Lennon Airport Gateway

study.

England‟s Northwest Research Service is operated by: The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership 12 Princes Parade Liverpool L3 1BG 0151 227 2727 [email protected]