DATA REPORT

JANUARY 2020

Our quarterly newsletter shares the latest tourism information for the Yorkshire and Humber region. This edition includes: • Visitor Numbers and Spend • Accommodation Occupancy and Revenue • Tourism Sources • International Tourism • and Tourism • Accessible Tourism • Christmas Activity Welcome to our Tourism Data Report We compile this quarterly newsletter to bring you a range of tourism data and insight for the Yorkshire and Humber region as well as .

We have selected findings that we feel are important to highlight and will be of use to you and your business from an extensive selection of reports that are available on the Visit Britain website. If you are interested in finding out more, go to www..org

We will also include updates on recent activity and how it has helped visitor growth and promotion in the region.

COVER IMAGE: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden © NYMNPA/Andrew Butler.

2 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

VISITOR NUMBERS AND SPEND

For Yorkshire and Humber, the first quarter of 2019 saw a significant year on year decrease in trips, spend and bed nights across domestic and inbound tourism with the county’s performance behind the the negative trends for England as a whole. However, Quarter 2 was much better with areas of significant growth both for Yorkshire and Humber and England in particular for domestic tourism. In fact, Yorkshire and Humber performed better than England for inbound and domestic bed nights and domestic spend.

TABLE 1: VISITOR NUMBERS AND SPEND QUARTER ONE & TWO UPDATE – JANUARY TO JUNE 2019

TRIPS

2018 2019 % change January - March 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 6.84m 8.61m 25.88% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 291,710 265,560 -8.96% Domestic Tourism - England 20.11m 18.32m -8.9% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 2.05m 1.65m -19.51% April - June 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 8.12m 9.99m 23.03% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 352,020 285,790 -18.81% Domestic Tourism - England 25.25m 27.46m 8.75% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 2.60m 2.59m -0.38%

SPEND

2018 2019 % change January - March 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 3.97b 3.94b -0.76% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 99.58m 76.59m -23.09% Domestic Tourism - England 3.45b 3.53b 2.32% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 298m 246m -17.45% April - June 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 5.16b 5.3b 2.71% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 127.07m 98.88m -22.18% Domestic Tourism - England 5.13b 5.28b 2.92% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 419m 473m 12.89%

BED NIGHTS

2018 2019 % change January - March 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 44.78m 43.39m -3.1% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 2.18m 1.48m -32.11% Domestic Tourism - England 53.7m 44.76m -16.65% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 6.85m 4.01m -41.46% April - June 2019 Inbound Tourism - England 61.48m 55.06m -10.44% Inbound Tourism - Y&H 1.89m 2.33m 23.28% Domestic Tourism - England 75.83m 78.7m 3.78% Domestic Tourism - Y&H 6.5m 7.7m 18.46%

Source: Visit England, 2019 m - million b - billion Y&H - Yorkshire & Humber

3 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

ACCOMMODATION OCCUPANCY AND REVENUE 2019

All the indicators show growth in the months of July and August year on year. Interestingly, accommodation performance on the whole is more buoyant in July than August, which includes the school holiday period. As we move into autumn the figures across all measures continue to show an upward trend.

Key terms:

*Average Daily Rate (ADR) - This is the average rate paid for rooms sold. It is calculated by dividing room revenue by rooms sold, i.e. ADR = Room Revenue / Rooms Sold.

**Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) - This is the revenue generated from the sale of actual rooms. RevPAR can be calculated by using one of the following formulas - total revenue from guest rooms / total number of available rooms or Occupancy x ADR

TABLE 2: YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER OCCUPANCY AND REVENUE JANUARY - AUGUST 2019 VERSUS 2018

MONTH ROOM OCC ROOM OCC BEDSPACE BEDSPACE ADR (19) ADR (18) RevPAR RevPAR (19) (18) OCC (19) OCC (18) (19) (18)

January 60% 61% 43% 43% £56.31 £57.00 £33.89 £34.69 February 74% 71% 53% 50% £58.76 £59.91 £42.03 £42.29 March 72% 69% 51% 50% £60.10 £61.02 £43.23 £42.25 April 75% 74% 55% 53% £61.79 £61.90 £46.38 £45.53 May 76% 75% 55% 54% £64.75 £65.03 £49.19 £48.61 June 79% 78% 56% 56% £66.89 £65.90 £52.84 £51.29 July 83% 80% 58% 57% £67.98 £67.02 £56.10 £56.10 August 81% 79% 61% 59% £66.41 £63.00 £53.54 £49.60 September 82% 80% 57% 57% £67.01 £66.41 £54.80 £53.19 October 80% 77% 58% 55% £63.89 £64.44 £50.95 £49.92

Source: Visit England, Accommodation Occupancy 2019

4 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

TOURISM SOURCES

This table shows for each region the significance of tourism from within its own region both in terms of the number of overnight trips and expenditure. For Yorkshire, a third of all overnight tourist trips to Yorkshire were made by residents of Yorkshire and account for 1.663 million visits and £286 million of expenditure. The significance of these numbers further reinforces the message of how important Yorkshire residents are to the Yorkshire tourism economy.

TABLE 3: REGION OF RESIDENCE = REGION VISITED

ENGLAND HOLIDAY TRIPS

% of Overnight Trips No of Trips (millions) % of Expenditure Expenditure (£ millions) 31.6% 0.601 19.9% £96 31.7% 2.435 26.7% £486 Yorkshire and Humber 33.1% 1.663 29.0% £286 30.0% 0.778 23.1% £155 25.2% 0.580 20.7% £96 35.5% 1.254 28.8% £271 33.9% 0.128 31.1% £481 29.0% 2.356 19.5% £669

Source: Visit England 2019

FIGURE 1: Y&H HOLIDAY EXPENDITURE SOURCES 2018 0.6% 1% Figure 1 illustrates the percent of all domestic tourism expenditure in Yorkshire and Humber from different regions 4% 8.1% of the UK in 2018. Interestingly, the highest region of 5% expenditure was from Yorkshire and Humber itself, providing nearly double the expenditure of the next 6.2% best performing region, the East Midlands. The lowest levels of tourism expenditure were from , closely 16.5% followed by and South West England. 6.1%

Scotland West Midlands 12.6% Wales East 13.3%

North East 26.5% North West South East

Yorkshire South West

East Midlands

Source: Visit England, 2019

5 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

INTERNATIONAL TOURISM

Table 4 illustrates the top 20 inbound markets in the UK. visits. however continues to dominate as the main The USA ranks as the number 1 market for number of continent for travellers to the UK with 14 of the top 20 visitors, number of nights and spend, overtaking destinations. Visitors from Germany and France are the for the first time as the largest inbound source market for second and third highest spenders in the UK respectively.

TABLE 4: TOP 20 MARKETS TO THE UK BY VOLUME OF VISITS

COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE VISITS VISITS NIGHTS NIGHTS SPEND SPEND (000s) RANK (000s) RANK (£M) RANK

USA 3,877 1 28,981 1 3,378 1 France 3,693 2 18,873 2 1,386 3 Germany 3,262 3 17,577 3 1,520 2 Irish Republic 2,782 4 8,347 11 895 6 Spain 2,530 5 15,185 4 1,110 4 Netherlands 1,954 6 8,547 10 716 8 Poland 1,817 7 12,326 7 453 15 Italy 1,808 8 9,500 9 784 7 Belgium 1,116 9 3,978 16 399 18 Australia 1,003 10 12,618 5 1,044 5 Romania 987 11 12,421 6 479 13 Canada 850 12 7,759 12 676 9 Sweden 827 13 3,836 17 447 16 Switzerland 808 14 5,238 15 460 14 Denmark 735 15 3,101 20 379 21 Norway 673 16 3,015 21 394 19 India 511 17 10,449 8 491 12 Hungary 437 18 3,107 19 138 38

Source: Visit Britain, 2019

Table 5 identifies the top 5 inbound markets for Yorkshire with shopping, going to a pub and exploring famous between 2016-18. The most popular activities undertaken monuments and buildings the top activities. Whilst the by the top inbound source market, Poland, were shopping, USA is not the top market for the number of visitors, these eating in pubs and restaurants, socialising with locals and travellers are the highest spenders, spending £43 million visiting famous monuments and buildings. Most trips were more than Germans who are the second highest spenders. taken to visit friends and relatives. For German travellers, Culture and history are strong attractors for Americans, the second largest inbound source market for visits, the and they are more likely to visit museums, art galleries, primary reasons for travel was either holiday or business historic houses and castles.

TABLE 5: YORKSHIRE TOP 5 MARKETS FROM 2016 - 2018

Visitors Spend (£ millions) Poland 403,000 82 Germany 328,000 126 USA 327,000 169 France 262,000 92 Ireland 259,000 93

Source: Visit Britain, 2019

6 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

Here are some key themes to focus your communication on to grow awareness and appeal.

VISITBRITAIN’S 2020 INBOUND TOURISM FORECAST

This January, VisitBritain have issued their revised forecast for Inbound tourism for the full year 2019. The headlines from the forecasted numbers are that inbound visitor spending will grow by 9.1% to £25bn and the number of inbound visits will grow by 1.7% to £38.5m. You can find the full report and rationale at VisitBritain.

7 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF BREXIT ON UK TOURISM

There are potential impacts of Brexit on the UK tourism [1] BBC News (2017). Lonely Planet tells the world to visit cheap Britain. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41736420 industry and consequently effects on the Yorkshire region. The Independent (2017). Number of visitors to Britain hits record high as weak pound Here are six points for you to consider for your business lures tourists. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ uk-visitor-numbers-tourism-record-high-brexit-weak-pound-sterling-tourists-eu- from a variety of independent sources: euro-dollar-a8060181.html [2] Politcio (2018). Commission to EU27: Prepare airports for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. • Destination attractiveness – since the 2016 vote to leave Retrieved from https://www.politico.eu/article/airlines-customs-commission-to-eu27- the EU, a weaker pound has led to a surge in travel to prepare-airports-cargo-shipping-for-a-no-deal-brexit/ [3] The Times (2018). More Chinese tourists visiting Britain but Brexit deters French, 1 the UK . Tourism has benefitted, but only time will tell if Germans and Italians. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/more- this impact is long-lasting. Some travellers use the UK as chinese-tourists-visiting-britain-but-brexit-deters-french-germans-and-italians- j2xvlxmww a hub for onward travel to other European destinations. [4] House of Commons Library Briefing Paper (2017). Employment of other EU If travel arrangements become complicated post-Brexit, nationals in the UK. Retrieved from https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ this might result in fewer visitors2. Whilst the UK has ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-8069 [5] UKinbound (2019). A perfect storm? The end of Free Movement and its impact on become more attractive to non-EU travellers, it has not the UK tourism workforce. London: UKinbound yet been determined what the impact of Brexit will be [6] ONS (2019). Migration Statistics Quarterly Report August 2019. Retrieved from 3 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/ on the European travel market to the UK . internationalmigration/articles/understandingdifferentmigrationdatasources/ augustprogressreport • Employment - the tourism industry is dependent on [7] House of Commons Library (2019). Tourism: statistics and policy. Briefing Paper labour from the EU4. UKinbound (2019)5 reported that Number 06022, 24 September 2019. Retrieved from https://researchbriefings. parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06022 3.8% of the Yorkshire and Humberside labour market [8] UK Hospitality (2018). New Government migration proposals will devastate were EU nationals aged 16 and over. ONS (2019)6 hospitality. Retrieved from https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/news/430791/New- Government-migration-proposals-will-devastate-hospitality.htm identified that in the UK most EU workers in tourism UK Hospitality (2019). BREXIT SPECIAL - Menu of post-Brexit visas unpalatable are aged 24-34 (41%). It is estimated that 20% work to hospitality employers. Retrieved from https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/ blogpost/1721400/319931/BREXIT-SPECIAL--Menu-of-post-Brexit-visas-unpalatable- in accommodation, 12% in food and beverage service to-hospitality-employers whilst 19% are chefs. The report also highlighted that EU [9] & Countries Bank (2019). UK ‘staycations’ expect a boom in 2020. workers are more likely to work in front-line roles such Retrieved from https://ccbank.co.uk/holiday-let-c-press-release/ as servers, and catering assistants compared to British nationals. According to a briefing paper by the House of Commons (2019)7 this might be an opportunity for the employment of more UK nationals in the tourism industry. However, if these jobs are not recruited to, it might cause a disparate impact based on the following scenario: unfilled vacancies lead to an increase in demand for tourism workers which leads to higher wages. UK Hospitality (2018; 2019)8 has stated that if this situation occurs, these costs will be passed on to the consumer resulting in the UK becoming a less desirable destination to visit, leading to business closures.

• Holidaying at home - the weaker pound and uncertainty around travel requirements post Brexit suggest that more Brits are likely to vacation at home. 72% of UK nationals said they expected an increase in domestic holidaying in 2020 with Yorkshire expected to receive an 18% increase in staycations over the next three years (Cambridge & Countries Bank, 2019)9.

8 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF BREXIT ON UK TOURISM

• Air access to the UK from the EU - Currently UK and [10] House of Commons Library (2019). Tourism: statistics and policy. Briefing Paper Number 06022, 24 September 2019. Retrieved from: https://researchbriefings. EU airlines can fly without restrictions in the European parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06022 Common Aviation Area. This simplifies air travel in the [11] Package Travel Directive. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/ EU and keeps down the cost of airfares. If there are consumers/travel-and-timeshare-law/package-travel-directive_en [12] Consumer Rights Directive. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law- complicated air transport agreements with the EU, topic/consumers/consumer-contract-law/consumer-rights-directive_en 10 Brexit may lead to higher fares and flight restrictions . [13] House of Commons Library (2019). Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill 2017-19. Retrieved from https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/ Summary/CBP-8435 • Travel and consumer protection - several areas of [14] House of Commons Library (2019). Tourism: statistics and policy. Briefing Paper consumer protection related to the travel and tourism Number 06022, 24 September 2019. Retrieved from: https://researchbriefings. industry are subject to EU regulations. These are parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06022 roaming charges, the Package Holiday Directive11, the Consumer Rights Directive12 and the European Health Insurance Card13. It is unclear if and how these laws will change post-Brexit. This further complicates the travel process and may be a deterrent to travel to the UK.

• Funding for tourism development - EU funding has been used in the UK to support the marketing and regeneration of some sites/attractions and destinations. It has not yet been determined what the impact of this potential loss of funding may mean for the tourism industry.14 The UK government has guaranteed all funding from the EU until the end of 2020.

9 yorkshire.com Please note that the latest 2018 & 2019 results are subject to minor changes.

ACCESSIBLE TOURISM

Is your business ready for the Purple Pound? References: Brodey, D. (2019). People With Disabilities Want To Help Make Over The Travel Industry. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/denisebrodey/2019/07/21/people-with- By 2030, one billion people across all age groups disabilities-want-to-help-make-over-the-travel-industry/#68688473513b worldwide will be living with a disability and currently Euromonitor International (2019). Megatrends Shaping the Future of Travel 2019 Edition. one fifth of the world’s population have accessibility Retrieved from https://go.euromonitor.com/WTM19.html Purple (2017). The Purple Pound Infographic. Retrieved from https://wearepurple.org.uk/wp- needs (Euromonitor International, 2019). In the UK, more content/uploads/2018/01/The_Purple_Pound-1024x683.jpg) than 1 in 5 potential customers have a disability (Purple, Skift (2019). The Business Imperative for Inclusive Hospitality. Retrieved from https://skift. 2017) whilst in the USA this is approximately 1 in 4 (Skift, com/2019/10/01/new-report-the-business-imperative-for-inclusive-hospitality/ VisitEngland (2015). The Purple Pound: Volume and Value of Accessible Tourism in England. 2019). In the UK, the accessible market is one-fifth of your Retrieved from https://www.visitbritain.org/sites/default/files/vb-corporate/Documents- potential customers with the market growing by 22% each Library/ve_purplepound2015.pdf). year (Brodey, 2019).

Whilst more people can now afford to travel, many hospitality and tourism operators are not prepared to Here at Welcome to Yorkshire we are committed to welcome customers with accessibility needs. Accessibility supporting an accessible Yorkshire for all and are includes people with physical and intellectual disabilities, working alongside AccessAble and Access For All anyone with mobility needs no matter the demographics UK to provide detailed information for visitors with and being inclusive to groups who may feel vulnerable accessibility needs so they can work out if a place is when travelling such as students, women, black and ethnic accessible for them. minorities and LGBTQ. Go to yorkshire.com/accessible-yorkshire The spending power of disabled people and their families to find out more. is commonly referred to as the Purple Pound. According to Purple (2017), the disabled market was thought to be For the first time we introduced an award for worth £249 million to UK businesses per year. Overall, Accessible and Inclusive Tourism at our annual businesses lose around £2 billion a month because they White Rose Awards in November 2019. There was have ignored the needs of the accessible market with as fantastic array of business in contention for this 75% of disabled customers and their families leaving a UK award, all brought together by the commitment to business because of poor accessibility and/or customer welcoming everyone to enjoy what they have to service. Restaurants/pubs and clubs are losing £163 million offer. The worthy winner was The Deep, Hull who per month because they are not adequately meeting the scooped the gong for their holistic approach and needs of the accessible market. Customers with access highly personalised customer service for everyone, requirements tend to stay around 10% more on average whatever their access needs may be. at the destination and spend on average £212 compared to £195 of all other travellers (VisitEngland, 2015). These customers rarely travel alone and are accompanied usually by carers, friends or family which creates a multiplier effect (Euromonitor International, 2019). These figures present a strong case for your business to boost its revenue by meeting this need of this growing and important market.

For further information about The Purple Pound and the volume and value of accessible tourism in England, take a look at this infographic.

10 yorkshire.com WELCOME TO YORKSHIRE EVENTS

Throughout the year Welcome to Yorkshire attend many events across the county. These range from agricultural shows, food and drink events and a mixture of large and small events.

These events provide Welcome to Yorkshire the opportunity to engage with the public, distribute our literature, talk about Yorkshire, promote our brand and push people to yorkshire.com for more information on visiting our county.

In numbers 20 6 Welcome to Yorkshire attended Welcome to Yorkshire attended 20 events in county. six events out of county. 499,643 1.25m 499, 643 people came to 1,257, 504 people came to in county events. these out of county events. 44 26 We spent 44 days We spent 26 days at at in county events. out of county events. 2,422 1,000 There were 2,422 other There were 1,000 other exhibitors at these events. exhibitors at these events. 37 9 Total number of stand partners Total number of stand partners at these in county events. at these out of county events.

11 yorkshire.com CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY

A survey carried out by Visit England since 2014 has asked retailers in the county, as visiting a Christmas market and a representative sample of GB consumers what activities shopping at post-Christmas sales was also in the top four they planned to undertake during the Christmas and New activities meaning that the positive impact of the festive Year period. This data allows thse popularity of trends and season would be potentially felt by retailers throughout activities to be tracked. Christmas and into the New Year. Interestingly attending visitor attractions during the festive period was one of the For the last five years visiting friends and family has been least popular activities ranging from only 6-9% over the the most popular activity during the festive period, closely last five years. followed by going out for a meal. There is good news for

TABLE 6: PLANNED ACTIVITIES OVER CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR – 2014 TO 2018

ACTIVITIES PLANNED 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 % % % % %

Visiting friends and family 61% 60% 64% 69% 64% Going out for a meal 43% 47% 50% 50% 42% Shopping at post-Christmas sales 37% 36% 38% 42% 35% Visit a Christmas market 31% 33% 32% 33% 26% Going for a night out to a bar, pub and/or club 27% 25% 28% 30% 25% Go out for entertainment such as cinema, concert or theatre 24% 21% 23% 26% 24% Undertake outdoor activities such as walking, cycling etc. 23% 23% 27% 27% 24% Go out for Christmas activities e.g. ice skating, pantomime, visiting Santa etc. 20% 19% 21% 21% 17% Go on a general day out to explore an area you don’t normally visit 11% 12% 14% 15% 13% Watching live sporting events (not on TV) 10% 10% 12% 12% 10% Visit a visitor attraction such as a historic house, theme park, museum, zoo etc. 8% 6% 8% 9% 7% Attend a special public event such as a festival, exhibition etc. 7% 6% 9% 8% 6% None of the above 11% 14% 10% 11% 10%

Source: Visit Britain, 2018, Domestic Trip Tracker - Christmas & New Year 2018. London: Visit Britain

Welcome to Yorkshire - Christmas Campaigns

Online In December 2019, our Christmas microsite attracted 466,000 page views, and 585,000 since 1st September. The Christmas Markets pages attracted 17,500 page views in December and 53,000 since 1st September. 2019 saw an increase of 24% in visits to yorkshire.com.

Print November saw the launch of our Festive Guide – jam packed with a broad range of festive themed activities, attractions and events. 50,000 copies of the guide were produced with 40,000 distributed in county in early November through magazine.

12 yorkshire.com For further information: Contact T 0114 225 2095 E [email protected]

Go to www.visitbritain.org to explore a wide range of tourism insight reports.

13 yorkshire.com