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Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 1
Digest of Tourism Statistics Updated December 2013
£10 FREE to Members
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 2
Contents
Introduction 3
The Key Facts 4
1 Overall Size of the Visitor Economy (STEAM) 5 1.1 Number of visitors (volume) 5 1.2 Total spend by visitors (value) 6 1.3 Jobs supported by the visitor economy 7 1.4 Change over time 9 1.5 STEAM Methodology 10
2 Local data from the Visitor Economy 11 2.1 Hotel occupancy 11 2.2 Hotel stock 14 2.3 Visits to attractions 15 2.4 Sport 16 2.5 Events 17 2.6 Transport data 18
3 Visitor profile data 23 3.1 Visitor Origin 23 3.2 Mode of transport 27 3.3 Purpose of visit 28 3.4 Demographics 29 3.5 Group type 31
4 National data 32 4.1 Occupancy trends 32 4.2 Visits to attractions trends 33 4.3 Domestic visitors (GBTS) 34 4.4 Inbound visitors (IPS) 36
5 Forecasts 38 5.1 Trends from the Liverpool City Region 3-year Action Plan 38
6 Articles 39 6.1 Business Performance 39 6.2 Tourism Business Confidence - Nationally 44 6.3 News 46
Appendices 48 Further reference sources 48 SIC codes defining the visitor economy 49 Crude guide to statistical confidence levels 50 Details of available publications 51
FREE to Members
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 3
Introduction
Welcome to the latest edition of the Digest of Tourism Statistics.
The Digest collates a range of key tourism research sets for the Liverpool City Region and is intended for
all users of tourism 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.
This Digest presents STEAM1 data for 2012 – that is, the estimated visitor numbers recorded by the city
and wider city region. These figures show that in 2012 the number of staying visitors, both for Liverpool
and the City Region, has over taken the record levels achieved in 2008, Liverpool‟s European Capital of
Culture year. Previous year‟s statistics have been updated using 2012 values.
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.
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 4
Key Facts about the visitor economy in the Liverpool City Region
1. In 2012 there were 57m visitors to the Liverpool City Region.
2. In 2012 the visitor economy was worth £3.4bn to the Liverpool City Region.
3. In 2012 approximately 45,900 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 half a million visitors in 2012; the Museum of Liverpool, Tate
Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Mersey Ferries and World Museum Liverpool,
6. Average hotel room occupancy in 2013 was 71%, an increase of 2% since 2012.
7. Over 1.3 m hotel rooms were sold in Liverpool City Centre in 2013.
8. 4,461,443 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 over
26m people in 2013 – this is 5% up on 2012.
North West Research
The Digest is produced by the research team at The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise
Partnership, who collate a wide range of tourism statistics for the Liverpool City Region.
Surveys include Destination Benchmarking, the Airport Gateway study and a quarterly Tourism
Business Performance survey.
Under the banner of the North West Research (formerly England’s North West Research
Service), the team conducts commercial research in a range of different sectors across the
North west, 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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 5
1 Overall size of the visitor economy (STEAM)
1.1 Number of visitors (Volume)
In total there were an estimated 57m visitors to the Liverpool City Region in 2012; this
includes 52m day visitors and 5m staying visitors.
For the city of Liverpool itself, this equated to a total of 32m visitors (30m day visitors
and 2m staying visitors).
Thousands of visitors 2012 Liverpool
Liverpool City
Region
Serviced Accommodation 1,219.9 2,179.8
Non-Serviced Accommodation 130.7 229.4
Staying with Friends and Relatives 753.9 2,223.0
Day Visitors 30,138.9 52,128.0
TOTAL 32,243.4 56,760.2
Source: STEAM
30,138.9
7,270.5
6,191.8
8,526.8
Day Visitors (000s)
2,104.5
689.4
792.5
1,045.8
Staying Visitors (000s)
Liverpool
Sefton
Wirral
Halton, Knowsley, St.Helens
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.
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 6
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 2012 the visitor economy was estimated as being worth £3.4bn to the Liverpool City
Region - £991m of this coming from staying visitors.
The visitor economy was worth £2.3bn to Liverpool itself.
Economic impact of visitors 2012 (£m) Liverpool
Liverpool City
Region
Serviced Accommodation £375.5 £595.3
Non-Serviced Accommodation £119.5 £163.9
Staying with Friends and Relatives 103.9 £232.5
Day Visitors £1,652.4 £2,421.2
TOTAL £2,251.4 £3,412.9
Source: STEAM
The sectors where spend occurs are detailed below.
Economic impact of visitors 2012 (£m) Liverpool
Liverpool City
Region
Accommodation £111.0 £190.5
Food and drink £462.3 £640.4
Recreation £145.9 £193.5
Shopping £488.5 £812.4
Transport £196.2 £267.5
Total Direct Revenue £1,403.8 £2,104.3
Indirect Expenditure £566.9 £887.7
VAT £280.8 £420.9
TOTAL £2,251.4 £3,412.9
Source: STEAM
£2,251.4
£431.7
£313.4
£416.5
Economic Impact (£m)
Liverpool
Sefton
Wirral
Halton, Knowsley,St.Helens
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 7
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 45,890 jobs supported by tourism expenditure throughout
the Liverpool City Region – 35,300 of these were direct jobs.
In Liverpool there were 29,833 jobs supported by tourism spend.
Jobs supported by visitor spend (FTE) 2012 Liverpool
Liverpool City
Region
Accommodation 1,390 3,204
Food and drink 8,547 11,839
Recreation 3,272 4,342
Shopping 8,233 13,693
Transport 1,620 2,209
Total Direct Revenue 23,062 35,287
Indirect Expenditure 6,771 10,603
TOTAL 29,833 45,890
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.
23,0624,239
3,497
4,489
Direct Jobs
29,8335,917
4,424
5,716
Total Jobs (Incl. indirect)
Liverpool
Sefton
Wirral
Halton, Knowsley, St.Helens
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 8
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 45,075 direct jobs in visitor economy-related SIC codes. As
indicated above though, this is likely to 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.
Source: Business Register & Employment Survey 2012, ONS.
3 “All employment” includes both employees and self employed such as sole traders.
4 “All employment” includes both employees and self employed such as sole traders.
Jobs in the visitor economy, Liverpool City
Region
All Employment3
2011
All Employment4
2012
Accommodation 6,687 5,422
Food and drink 30,177 31,873
Transport & travel 1,963 3,205
Culture, attractions, entertainment, other 4,745 4,575
TOTAL 43,572 45,075
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 9
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 20055.
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, 2012 figures overtook the record set in the 2008
Capital of Culture year.
Source: STEAM
5 Note: where economic data is traced back to 2005, all figures shown are “at 2012 values”.
22
,12
4
22
,47
6
23
,28
0
31
,70
7
25
,89
0
28
,11
2
28
,51
1
30
,13
8
44
,19
3
45
,16
7
46
,09
8
55
,42
9
48
,20
9
50
,08
8
50
,50
6
52
,12
8
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
(00
0s
)
Numbers of day visitors
Liverpool Liverpool City Region
1,4
91
1,6
28
1,7
03
1,9
13
1,7
35
1,9
58
1,9
84
2,1
04
3,9
54
4,1
88
4,2
96
4,4
53
4,1
08
4,4
19
4,4
82
4,6
32
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
(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
£5
99
.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
£1
,65
2.0
m
£m
£500m
£1,000m
£1,500m
£2,000m
£2,500m
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
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
£9
92
.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
£2
,42
1.0
m
£m
£500m
£1,000m
£1,500m
£2,000m
£2,500m
£3,000m
£3,500m
£4,000m
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
Economic impact - Whole City Region
Staying visitors Day visitors
Size of the Visitor Economy
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 10
1.5 STEAM Methodology
To estimate the volume and value of tourism, the Liverpool City Region uses the STEAM6 model
– this model is widely (though not universally) used across the UK, including other tourist boards
in North West England. STEAM is owned and operated by Global Tourism Solutions (UK) Ltd.
STEAM relies on local-level data to drive the estimates, principally7:
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 2012.
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:
6 Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor – so-called because Scarborough was the first UK location where
the model was applied. 7 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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 11
2 Local data from the Visitor Economy
2.1 Hotel occupancy
Hotel occupancy data is drawn from the STR Global®8. it includes a number of establishments
based in the districts.
Room occupancy,
Liverpool City Region 2012
2013
Weekday average (Mo-Th) 68.9% 69.9%
Weekend average (Fr-Sa) 84.9% 83.6%
Sunday 51.9% 53.6%
Total average 68.8% 71.2%
SOURCE: STR GLOBAL, LTD. REPUBLICATION OR OTHER RE-USE OF THIS DATA WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF STR GLOBAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
In 2013 room occupancy in the city region averaged 71%, an increase of 2% since 2012.
Below, the latest occupancy data is compared with earlier years.
SOURCE: STR GLOBAL, LTD. REPUBLICATION OR OTHER RE-USE OF THIS DATA WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF STR GLOBAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
8 STR Global is a tool run by Smith Travel Research Global that allows hotel and tourism managers to see an up-to-
date picture of room occupancy and availability in their city. Please note change over from LJ forecaster to STR Global occurred in April 2013
55
.8%
67
.9%
66
.8%
74
.8%
68
.3%
72
.3%
77
.5%
74
.2%
76
.7%
76
.5%
74
.0%
62
.7%
55
.6%
63
.8%
67
.1%
70
.9%
70
.1%
72
.8%
72
.4%
71
.9%
74
.4%
75
.0%
73
.5%
57
.6%
52
.1%
70
.0%
69
.5%
69
.1%
74
.8%
75
.1%
75
.6%
76
.6%
74
.6%
79
.1%
74
.5%
62
.9%
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
2011 2012 2013
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 12
Most establishments also complete a section of the STR Global dealing with revenue analysis.
This gives the Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Rooms (RevPAR) – the
latter tending to be the preferred measure in terms of economic performance.
Room revenue,
Liverpool City Region 2012 2013
ADR weekday average (Mo-Th) £52.54 £53.02
ADR weekend average (Fr-Sa) £66.56 £66.17
ADR average £56.66 £57.09
REVPAR weekday average (Mo-Th) £36.24 £35.29
REVPAR weekend average (Fr-Sa) £57.17 £55.09
REVPAR average £39.09 £41.00
SOURCE: STR GLOBAL, LTD. REPUBLICATION OR OTHER RE-USE OF THIS DATA WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN
PERMISSION OF STR GLOBAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
The average room yield (RevPAR) in the city region in 2013 was £41.00, a slight
increase since 2012.
SOURCE: STR GLOBAL, LTD. REPUBLICATION OR OTHER RE-USE OF THIS DATA WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF STR GLOBAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
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).
£2
9.7
8
£3
8.0
9
£3
8.0
6
£4
7.9
1
£3
8.1
1
£3
8.6
7
£4
0.5
4
£3
9.1
8
£4
7.6
6
£4
4.4
4
£4
2.5
7
£3
4.1
2
£2
8.9
1
£3
5.2
7
£3
8.8
9
£4
4.3
7
£3
9.5
0
£4
1.1
8
£3
8.9
4
£3
9.2
7
£4
3.7
1
£4
3.4
3
£4
4.0
5
£3
1.6
0
£2
6.1
4
£3
8.0
8
£3
9.8
2
£4
6.8
0
£4
2.6
0
£4
3.6
0
£4
0.9
0
£4
2.7
0
£4
2.9
0
£4
8.1
0
£4
4.9
0
£3
5.4
0
£0
£10
£20
£30
£40
£50
£60
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Room yield monthly tends
2011 2012 2013
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 13
In the table below, known city centre hotel stock is overlaid by the occupancy levels shown in the
STR Global to produce an estimate of the actual number of hotel rooms that have been sold:
Source: Tourist board room stock data
This indicates a growth in the numbers of visitors staying in hotels in the city and in 2013
1 million 327 thousand 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.
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: STR Global / Tourist board room stock data
9 Figures rounded to the nearest 000.
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
75
,00
0
95
,00
0
10
8,0
00
11
4,0
00
12
0,0
00
11
7,0
00
12
0,0
00
12
0,0
00
11
5,0
00
12
4,0
00
11
5,0
00
10
3,0
00
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
City Centre rooms sold
2011 2012 2013
Hotel rooms sold9
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
2012 1,244,000
2013 1,326,936
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 14
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
Figures for the City Centre include the most recent openings:
o The 141 room Travelodge on The Strand (opened February 2012)
o The 183 room Premier Inn on Hanover Street (October 2012)
o The 19 room Podworks on Henry Street (September 2012)
2013 data will include:
o The 125 room Travelodge on Exchange St East (opened March 2013)
o The 122 room Ibis Styles on Dale Street (opened October 2013)
o The 129 room Adagio at Lewis‟ Building (opened April 2013)
o The 51 room The Richmond, Hatton Garden (opened April 2013)
o The 12 room (sleeps111) Signature Hotel (opened April 2013)
o The 35 room Hoax Liverpool, Stanley Street (opened July 2013)
o The 92 room Z Hotel (opened May 2013)
o The 14 room Epic aparthotel (sleeps 50+)
and outside the city centre:
o The 25 room Lorne Hotel, Wirral
o The 101 room Travelodge, Southport
3,4
20
3,9
20
4,2
18
4,5
24
4,8
67
3,6
08
4,0
56
4,2
92
4,5
17
4,5
47
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
Hotel room stock
Liverpool City Centre Elsewhere City Region
30
34
37
39
41
12
2
12
6
13
0
13
4
17
6
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
Hotel establishments
Liverpool City Centre Elsewhere City Region
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 15
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 the new Museum of Liverpool opened in July 2011 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
& 2012 figures
* 2010 figures
@ 2009 figures
# 2008 figures
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 16
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 year10
.
Venue District Attendance
1 Liverpool FC Liverpool 850,184
2 Everton FC Liverpool 747,576
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
10
For racecourses this is a calendar year; for others this relates to the 2012/13 sport season.
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 17
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 Street11
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
Source: Media / publicity
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 Marathon12
Liverpool / Wirral 10,000
9 NW Masters – Haydock St Helens 10,000
10 Port Sunlight Christmas Fayre Wirral 6,000
Source: Media / publicity
11 Saturday figure only, due to event being cancelled because of bad weather
12
Figure covers >10,000 runners
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 18
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 inbound13
and outbound14
travellers; there being no
contiguous source disaggregating changing tourism levels from (potentially lower)
domestic outbound travellers.
13
“Inbound” = Overseas visitors to the UK. 14
“Outbound” = UK nationals travelling overseas.
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
4,4
61
,44
3
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
11
20
12C
ha
ng
e (
ind
ex
ed
to
20
00
)
Passenger levels
ALL UK airports LJLA
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 19
Source: CAA Airport Statistics
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.
Source: CAA Airport Statistics
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
24
1,0
00
25
5,0
00
25
8,0
00
31
4,0
00
35
9,0
00
38
7,0
00
42
8,0
00
46
9,0
00
40
2,0
00
39
4,0
00
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Monthly Terminal Pax, LJLA
2010 2011 2012 2013
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 20
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 2012. 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 travelled to and from Liverpool by one of the three
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.
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
(Birkenhead)
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 21
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 numbers15
and vessel trips.
Source: Port / operator publicity
In 2013 it was estimated that there would be potentially 41,677 passengers on cruise
ships visiting the city and an estimated 9,680 on cruise ships departing the city.
The estimated number of passengers on „cruise calls‟ at the terminal in 2013 is
significantly higher on last year, though broadly comparable.
2013 saw a significant 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).
15
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.
24
,38
4
10
,99
0
26
,42
2
10
,16
0
26
,47
0
8,4
00
23
,64
4
9,6
00
41
,67
7
9,6
80
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
Cruise calls Originating / terminating cruises
Cruise Passengers
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
15
25
17
12
15
10
15
12
34
11
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Cruise calls Originating / terminating cruises
Vessel trips
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Local Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 22
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 stations16
compared to other major UK cities and on the right usage levels of other key stations17
within the
Liverpool City Region.
Most recent data comes from the 2011-12 financial year.
Key destinations Exits
Selected key city
region stations Exits
Birmingham New St 15,606,921 Liverpool Central
Moorfields
7,104,621
3,178,383
Glasgow Central 13,319,709 Liverpool James
Street
1,459,710
Leeds 12,510,016 Southport 1,337,373
Edinburgh 11,252,588 Formby 756,606
Manchester Piccadilly 9,292,355 New Brighton 515,393
Bristol Temple Meads 8,874,542 West Kirby 377,983
Brighton 8,025,599 Liverpool South
Parkway
366,850
Liverpool Lime St 6,917,657 St.Helens Central 361,228
Cardiff Central 5,751,040 Port Sunlight
348,048
Source: Station usage data, Office of the Rail Regulator.
16
Excluding London & key commuter terminals 17
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.
Visitor Profile
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 23
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 Survey18
and the
Destination Benchmarking19
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%
18
The Merseyside Visitor Survey is conducted every 5 years. Latest data is for 2010. 19
The Liverpool Destination Benchmarking study is conducted on alternate years. Latest data is for 2012
Visitor Profile
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 24
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 25
b) Staying Visitors
Visitors to the
whole City Region
% of
staying
visitors
Visitors to
Liverpool City Centre
% 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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 26
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 North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 27
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 28
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%
Shopping 8%
Events 4%
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 29
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
Liverpool City Centre
% 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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 30
b) Staying visitors
Visitors to the
whole City Region
% of day
visitors
Visitors to
Liverpool City Centre
% of day
visitors
Children (<16) 14% Children (<16) 4%
16-24 6% 16-24 21%
25-44 32% 25-44 28%
45-64 35% 45-64 29%
65+ 13% 65+ 18%
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 (18%).
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 (21%).
The 25-44 age bracket forms a very important part of those staying in the city, an estimated 28%.
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
1.6%
8.6%
5.4%
6.7%
6.9%
6.4%
7.7%
2.8%
11.9%
6.5%
9.5%
7.7%
8.3%
10.1%
0-15
16-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Male Female
Visitor Profile
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 31
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 32
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 (66% for January to July, compared to 62% in the same period of 2012).
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 North West 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
46
%
56
%
59
%
63
%
67
%
75
%
77
%
72
%
75
%
67
%
61
%
52
%
47
%
54
%
59
%
63
%
68
%
73
%
72
%
73
%
77
%
71
%
64
%
56
%
49
%
60
%
63
%
66
%
71
%
75
%
78
%
77
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
England Hotel Room Occupancy Monthly Trends
2011 2012 2013
73% 61% 57% 57%72% 62% 57% 55%76% 65% 59% 55%0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
City / Large town Small town Seaside Countryside
Room occupancy (Jan -Aug)
2011 2012 2013
National Data
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 33
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 2012, 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
Forecasts
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 34
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. GBTS20
measures
overnight trips, rather than the total domestic
market.
Data from the Great Britain Tourism Survey
2012 (GBTS) indicates that Liverpool was the
8th most visited town/city in England by
domestic tourists21,
with an estimated
1,470,000 overnight trips. This is an increase
in one rank position from that seen in 2011.
Top 20 most visited English Cities & Towns by
UK residents
2010 2011 2012
Town/City
Visits
(000s) Town/City
Visits
(000s) Town/City
Visits
(000s)
1 London 11,580 1 London 11,093 1 London 12,152
2 Manchester 2,177 2 Manchester 2,613 2 Manchester 3,126
3 Birmingham 2,059 3 Birmingham 2,251 3 Birmingham 2,748
4 Blackpool 1,717 4 Bristol 1,828 4 Scarborough 1,726
5 Scarborough 1,495 5 Scarborough 1,645 5 Leeds 1,548
6 Bristol 1,490 6 York 1,615 6 Bristol 1,518
7 Leeds 1,478 7 Leeds 1,493 7 York 1,517
8 York 1,374 8 Blackpool 1,478 8 Liverpool 1,470
9 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1,244 9 Liverpool 1,428 9 Blackpool 1,298
10 Liverpool 1,194 10 Newcastle upon Tyne 1,303 10 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1,251
11 Isle of Wight 1,042 11 Sheffield 1,293 11 Sheffield 1,233
12 Skegness 1,012 12 Brighton and Hove 1,096 12 Nottingham 1,081
13 Nottingham 928 13 Nottingham 1,066 13 Skegness 1,074
14 Bournemouth 925 14 Isle of Wight 1,053 14 Brighton and Hove 1,047
15 Brighton and Hove 921 15 Bournemouth 1,051 15 Isle of Wight 1,006
16 Norwich 842 16 Skegness 992 16 Bournemouth 917
17 Sheffield 816 17 Southampton 973 17 Portsmouth 855
18 Southampton 759 18 Norwich 934 18 Southampton 792
19 Bath 710 19 Cambridge 769 19 Oxford 780
20 Oxford 700 20 Plymouth 745 20 Norwich 771
Source: GBTS, Visit England
20
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. 21
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”).
12
,15
2
3,1
26
2,7
48
1,7
26
1,5
48
1,5
18
1,5
17
1,4
70
1,2
98
1,2
51
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
Lo
nd
on
Ma
nch
este
r
Birm
ing
ha
m
Sca
rbo
rou
gh
Le
ed
s
Bri
sto
l
Yo
rk
Liv
erp
oo
l
Bla
ckp
oo
l
New
ca
stle
up
on
Tyn
e
Top Towns 2012: Staying visits (000s) by GB residents
Source: GBTS, Visit England
Forecasts
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 35
b) Results from different markets
The data shows that Liverpool is ranked 9th for “pure holiday visits” – this is an increase in rank
than was achieved in 2011 but the information within the survey suggests significant increase in
visits.
The city is ranked 9th though for business visits – this is a drop from last year (when it was
ranked 8th) and may reflect on major conferences in the city.
Source: GBTS, Visit England
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
2012, although both remained below
historic levels.
Source: GBTS, Visit England
A fuller briefing note on key messages from the GBTS is
available on request from the LEP.
4,168
1,531
1,073
982
963
844
714
710
654
636
0 500 1,000 1,500
London
Scarborough
Blackpool
Skegness
Manchester
York
Birmingham
Isle of Wight
Liverpool
Great Yarmouth
Top Towns 2012: Pure holiday staying trips (000s)
3,248
885
874
420
314
290
273
208
202
182
0 200 400 600 800
London
Manchester
Birmingham
Leeds
Sheffield
Bristol
Newcastle upon Tyne
Northampton
Liverpool
Portsmouth
Top Towns 2012: Business staying trips (000s)
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Ch
an
ge
fro
m 2
00
6 (
10
0 =
"N
o c
ha
ng
e")
GBTS: Trends
Holidays VFR Business
Forecasts
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 36
15
,46
1
1,2
56
93
2
71
3
55
0
52
1
43
0
39
8
39
5
34
5
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
…
Cam
bri
dg
e
…
Bri
sto
l
…
Brig
hto
n / H
ove
…
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 550,000
overseas staying visits in 2012, 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 932,000
overseas staying visits..
Source: IPS, VisitBritain / ONS
Top 20 most visited UK Cities & Towns by Overseas residents
2010 2011 2012
Town/City
Visits
(000s) Town/City
Visits
(000s) Town/City
Visits
(000s)
1 London 14706 1 London 15289 1 London 15,461
2 Edinburgh 1305 2 Edinburgh 1342 2 Edinburgh 1,256
3 Manchester 811 3 Manchester 934 3 Manchester 932
4 Birmingham 740 4 Birmingham 733 4 Birmingham 713
5 Glasgow 551 5 Liverpool 545 5 Liverpool 550
6 Liverpool 452 6 Glasgow 475 6 Glasgow 521
7 Oxford 412 7 Oxford 465 7 Oxford 430
8 Bristol 377 8 Bristol 430 8 Cambridge 398
9 Cambridge 367 9 Cambridge 387 9 Bristol 395
10 Brighton / Hove 303 10 Leeds 306 10 Brighton / Hove 345
11 Bath 263 11 Brighton / Hove 304 11 Cardiff 301
12 Cardiff 260 12 Cardiff 291 12 Leeds 299
13 Inverness 238 13 Aberdeen 250 13 Nottingham 215
14 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 224 14 Nottingham 244 14 Inverness 213
15 Nottingham 224 15 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 239 15 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 212
16 York 224 16 Bath 232 16 Bath 211
17 Leeds 213 17 York 222 17 Aberdeen 208
18 Aberdeen 168 18 Inverness 215 18 York 199
19 Southampton 164 19 Windsor 211 19 Reading 196
20 Windsor 162 20 Canterbury 191 20 Windsor 182
Source: IPS, VisitBritain / ONS
Forecasts
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 37
b) Results from different markets
The following charts breakdown the information by purpose of visit. Please note that those visiting to attend sporting events are an important contributor to the figures relating to „other purpose‟.
Source: IPS, VisitBritain / ONS
7,649
818
295
215
178
173
167
140
119
116
0 200 400 600 800 1,000
London
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Manchester
Inverness
Liverpool
Brighton / Hove
Oxford
Bath
Birmingham
Top Towns: Pure holiday staying trips (000s)
3,529
254
248
189
151
136
122
119
118
96
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
London
Manchester
Edinburgh
Birmingham
Bristol
Cambridge
Oxford
Liverpool
Leeds
Nottingham
Top Towns: VFR staying trips (000s)
3,068
358
280
132
120
105
104
100
100
94
0 100 200 300 400
London
Birmingham
Manchester
Edinburgh
Oxford
Liverpool
Aberdeen
Bristol
Leeds
Cambridge
Top Towns: Business staying trips (000s)
1,035
172
146
42
30
23
18
15
15
8
0 50 100 150 200
London
Manchester
Liverpool
Birmingham
Edinburgh
Cambridge
Oxford
Leeds
Glasgow
Newcastle
Top Towns: "Other purpose" (000s)
Forecasts
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 38
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
Liverpool City Centre Elsewhere City Region
43
45
52
85
88
89
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2012 2013 2014
Hotel establishments
Liverpool City Centre Elsewhere City Region
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 39
6 Articles
6.1 Business performance
Introduction
Throughout the year North West Research conducts the „How‟s Business‟ survey in order to
monitor performance of the sector locally and identify any emerging concerns that businesses
may have. This was of particular importance during the recession.
A web-based survey is currently used. All LEP‟s tourism and conference members / contacts
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 < 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 different sub-sectors of the visitor economy.
This report presents the findings from the latest survey conducted at the beginning of 2013.
Industry performance over the past few months
Businesses were asked how their performance had been, compared with the same period a
year ago.
30.4%
8.7%
34.8%43.5%
43.5%
26.1%
43.5%
39.1%
26.1%
65.2%
21.7% 17.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
How has business been generally during the end of 2012(October to
December) compared to the same time in 2011
Up
Level
Down
27.3%36.4%
52.4%57.9%
45.0%
54.6%
50.0%
38.1%36.8%
45.0%
18.2%13.6% 9.5% 5.3%10.0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
And have you experienced any changes in the following types of business
compared to the same period last year
Up
Level
Down
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 40
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).
53%
67%
59%
57%
53%
50%
52%
42%
45%
41%
56%
24%
35%
35%
35%
24%
27%
17%
28%
13%
27%
25%
28%
38%
35%
35%
22%
35%
31%
31%
31%
30%
20%
17%
24%
30%
21%
25%
21%
21%
20%
24%
22%
41%
35%
35%
35%
35%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
January 2009.
February 2009.
March 2009.
May 2009.
June 2009.
August 2009.
September 2009.
November 2009.
March 2010.
July 2010.
January 2011.
September 2011.
December 2011.
March 2012.
September 2012.
December 2012.
Down Level Up
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 41
Market branding
A new question used in this edition of „How‟s Business‟, asked people what they 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%).
Following on from the previous question, respondents were asked whether they thought the
brands importance were in increasing or decreasing in the City Region.
6.5%
7.5%
7.5%
14.0%
15.0%
15.9%
16.8%
16.8%
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?
9.1%
19.1%
4.6
%4
.6%
22.7%
15.0%
14.2%
18.2%
68.2%
57.1%
40.9%
50.0%
59.1%
70.0%
61.9%
54.6%
22.7%
23.0%
54.6%
45.5%
18.2%
15.0%
23.8%
27.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Beatles
World Heritage Site
Retail Destination
Culture
Football
Golf
Maritime
Festival events
Which are increasing or decreasing in importance?
Decreasing
No change
Increasing
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 42
International Festival for Business
Also a new question, respondents were then asked if they were aware of Liverpool hosting the
International Festival for Business.
71.4%
28.6%
Are you aware that Liverpool will be hosting an International Festival for Business in June and
July 2014?
Yes
No
5.9%
11.8%
29.4%
52.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Don't know
Not at all
Longer term
During the festival itself
If Yes to the previous question. Do you think the International Festival for Business will create new opportunities for your business?
13.6%
40.9%
45.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Don't know
Longer term
During the festival itself
Will the International Festival for Business create new opportunities for Liverpool City Region?
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 43
Business Profile
Respondents were finally asked a few questions about their businesses:
5.0%
65.0%
20.0%
10.0%
Origin of Business
Knowsley
Liverpool
Sefton
Wirral
0.0%
4.8%
4.8%
4.8%
9.5%
9.5%
14.3%
52.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Activity provider
Transport / tour operator
Theatre
Conference venue
Visitor attraction
Self-catering
Restaurant, pub or cafe
Hotel, guesthouse or B&B
What is your main business activity
9.1%
9.1%
36.4%
0.0%
9.1%
18.2%
0.0%
0.0%
18.2%
0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Unknown / Prefer not to say
£1-2m
£500k-£1m
£250-500k
£100-250k
£50-100k
£40-50k
£30-40k
£10-20k
Less than 10K
What is your expected turnover in the 2012/13 financial year
14%
29%
24%
10%
0%
10%
5%
10%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
>100
51-100
21-50
11-20
6-10
3-5
2
Just me
Size of business (by employee)
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 44
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.
a) Performance of the Domestic Visitor market
Source: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor,
b) Performance of the Overseas Visitor market
Source: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor,
27% 15% 27% 39%
-29% -44% -23% -18%
-40%
-30%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Jan-13 Easter 2013
Jul-13 Sep-13
Accommodation providers
Down
Up
26% 15% 28% 37%
-12% -26% -11% -8%
-30%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
Jan-13 Easter 2012
Jul-13 Sep-13
Attractions
Down
Up
22% 15% 26% 38%
-30% -35% -22% -16%
-40%
-30%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Jan-13 Easter 2013
Jul-13 Sep-13
Accommodation providers
Down
Up
28% 23% 32% 38%
-21% -35% -13% -10%
-40%
-30%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
Jan-13 Easter 2013
Jul-13 Sep-13
Attractions
Down
Up
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 45
c) Business confidence
Source: Visit England Tourism Business Monitor
26% 23% 46% 38%
44% 55%
43%48%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Ja
n-1
3
Ea
ste
r 2
01
3
Ju
l-1
3
Se
p-1
3
Accommodation providers
Very confident Fairly confident
26% 25% 32% 30%
61% 64%62% 62%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Ja
n-1
3
Ea
ste
r 2
01
2
Ju
l-1
2
Se
p-1
2
Attractions
Very confident Fairly confident
Articles
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 46
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.
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) 2012
Hotel Openings
Nov 2012 Premier Inn, Hanover Street, opened – 183 rooms.
Sept 2012 Podworks, Henry Street, opened – 19 rooms.
Feb 2012 Travelodge, The Strand, opened – 141 rooms.
2012: Carlton Hotel, Southport – 30 rooms
Major events:
Oct 2012: 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.
Mar 2012: Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
Hosted by Liverpool Vision, Global Entrepreneurship Week and The Kauffman
Foundation, the congress took place at the ACC Liverpool and attended by
almost 3000 business delegates from around the world.
Other:
Nov 2012: 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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 47
b) 2013
Hotel Openings
Mar 2013: Travelodge, Exchange Street East (125 rooms)
Apr 2013: Adagio, Lewis‟s Building (129 rooms)
Apr 2013: Signature Hotel (12 units)
Apr 2013: The Richmond, Hatton Gardens (51 rooms)
May 2013: Z Hotel (92 rooms)
July 2013: Hoax, 5 star, hostel, Stanley Street (35 units)
Sept 2013: Epic Aparthotel (sleeps 50+)
Oct 2013: Ibis Styles, Dale Street (122 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
Liverpool Destination Survey 2014
STEAM data collection
Appendices
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 48
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
Appendices
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 49
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
Appendices
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 50
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.
22
22
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
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 51
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.
Digest of Tourism Statistics North West Research The Liverpool LEP December 2013 Page 52
North West Research 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 the visitor economy.
The in-house research agency provides a wide
range of market research services to an array of
clients across the North West of England and
beyond. 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 ten years the research service has
conducted more than 250 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:
• Destination benchmarking
• Tourism business performance survey
This Digest has been compiled by North West Research, 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.
North West Research is operated by: The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership 12 Princes Parade Liverpool L3 1BG 0151 237 3521