News Archive
Scarborough remains a top 10 UK town
01st Jul 2009
VisitEngland’s annual report, published today, shows that whilst overall overnight trips to Scarborough fell by 10% in 2008, the seaside town still remains one of the nation’s top ten most visited towns
Other interesting figures show that whilst overall overnight trips in England fell by 5% in 2008, many of England’s top cities bucked the trend and, in some cases, showed significant increases in the number of overnight trips taken by UK residents.
The report, derived from the United Kingdom Visitors Survey (UKTS), lists London (+12%), Manchester (+7) and Birmingham (+4%) as England’s top three towns for overnight trips – no change from 2007.
Bristol moved into fourth place despite a decrease of-5% taking the place of the seaside town of Blackpool, which fell to sixth place from its fourth position in 2007 after a 26% decrease in overnight visits.
Leeds took the fifth place in the top ten list with an increase of 4%, whilst York moved up one position into seventh place overtaking another seaside town, Scarborough, which fell from sixth place to eight with visitor numbers to Scarborough hotels down -10%.
Newcastle Upon Tyne cements its place in the top ten moving up one place to ninth with an impressive +22% increase in overnight visits.
The best performance however goes to tenth place holder Liverpool, which entered the top ten for the first time since 2006 with an overall +28% increase in visits; and a 47% increase in holiday visits.
Jenny McGee, Head of Strategy and Engagement, VisitEngland said that external factors can help to explain some of the findings.
‘We’re delighted to see that our urban centres continue to attract visitors with their increasing and diverse range of attractions and cultural events.
“The disappointing summer has most likely had an impact on the position of some of our seaside towns – but weather predictions for this summer give us hopes of reversing that trend in next year’s results.
“Credit show also go to clever marketing for stellar performances by the top performing cities – especially the likes of Newcastle and Liverpool, the latter having the advantage of being named the 2008 Capital of Culture,” said Jenny.
Source: United Kingdom Tourism Survey
