Visitor Attraction Trends England 2005
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Visitor Attraction Trends England 2005 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VisitBritain would like to thank all representatives and operators in the attraction sector who provided information for the national survey on which this report is based. No part of this publication may be reproduced for commercial purposes without previous written consent of VisitBritain. Extracts may be quoted if the source is acknowledged. Statistics in this report are given in good faith on the basis of information provided by proprietors of attractions. VisitBritain regrets it cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this report nor accept responsibility for error or misrepresentation. Published by VisitBritain (incorporated under the 1969 Development of Tourism Act as the British Tourist Authority) © 2006 British Tourist Authority (trading as VisitBritain) VisitBritain is grateful to English Heritage and the MLA for their financial support for the 2005 survey. ISBN 0 7095 8276 5 August 2006 VISITOR ATTRACTION TRENDS ENGLAND 2005 2 CONTENTS CONTENTS A KEY FINDINGS 4 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 12 1.1 Research objectives 12 1.2 Survey method 14 1.3 Population, sample and response rate 14 1.4 Guide to the tables 16 2 ENGLAND VISIT TRENDS 2004-2005 18 2.1 England visit trends 2004-2005 by attraction category 18 2.2 England visit trends 2004-2005 by admission type 19 2.3 England visit trends 2004-2005 by volume of visits to attractions 21 2.4 England visit trends 2004-2005 by geographic location 21 2.5 England visit trends 2004-2005 by proportion of overseas visits 22 2.6 England visit trends 2004-2005 by proportion of child visits 22 3 ENGLISH GOVERNMENT OFFICE REGION VISIT TRENDS 2004-2005 23 3.1 Visit trends 2004-2005 by English Government Office Region 23 3.2 Visit trends 2004-2005 by attraction category within English GOR 24 3.3 Visit trends 2004-2005 by admission type by English GOR 25 3.4 Visit trends 2004-2005 by volume of visits by English GOR 26 3.5 Visit trends 2004-2005 by geographic location by English GOR 26 4 ADULT ADMISSION PRICE TRENDS 2004-2005 28 4.1 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by English GOR 28 4.2 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by volume of visits 29 4.3 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by attraction category 29 4.4 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by geographic location 30 4.5 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by proportion of overseas visits 30 4.6 Adult admission prices 2004-2005 by proportion of child visits 31 5 REVENUE AND MARKETING EXPENDITURE TRENDS 2004-2005 32 5.1 Gross revenue trend 2004-2005 32 5.2 Marketing expenditure trend 2004-2005 36 6 TRENDS IN NUMBER OF VISITS TO ENGLAND ATTRACTIONS 1989 – 2005 39 7 VISITS TO INDIVIDUAL ATTRACTIONS 44 VISITOR ATTRACTION TRENDS ENGLAND 2005 3 KEY FINDINGS A. KEY FINDINGS A.1 Overall trends in visits to English attractions 2004-2005 2005 saw a dry and sunny year in England, with rainfall 10% below average across the year and nine months experiencing below average rainfall. August was especially dry and only April and October experienced rainfall above average. South East and central Southern England was particularly dry, with rainfall 20% below normal. Northern England was less dry although still with lower rainfall than average across the year. Sunshine levels were 8% above average for the year, with August and September particularly sunny months. Temperatures for the year were an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius above normal. This compares with 2004 which saw a more “traditional” English summer, with England experiencing the wettest summer since 1912, August being a particularly wet month. At the outset of 2005, the tourism industry was expected to continue its recovery from the negative factors affecting travel in 2003 such as the Iraq war and SARS virus. In the event, visits to London, and indeed to urban attractions generally, were adversely affected by the July bombings in the capital. The 1,992 England visitor attractions that provided visits figures for both 2004 and 2005 reported little change in visitor admissions overall, with an average decrease of less than -0.5% in 2005. This compares with the slight increase in visits figures of +1% reported in 2004. Table A.1 England visit trends 2004-2005 - by attraction category (%) Category Attractions % 05/04 sample Country parks (86) +7 Farms (65) +5 Gardens (137) +8 Historic houses/castles (383) -2 Other historic properties (142) +1 Leisure/theme parks (37) -6 Museums/art galleries (625) -3 Steam/heritage railways (49) +3 Visitor/heritage centres (76) +4 Wildlife attractions/zoos (102) +5 Workplaces (86) +3 Places of worship (94) +3 Other (110) -1 England (1,992) -* VISITOR ATTRACTION TRENDS ENGLAND 2005 4 KEY FINDINGS The majority of categories showed growth in 2005, with particularly strong increases in visits to outdoor attractions such as gardens (+8%), country parks (+7%), wildlife attractions/zoos (+5%) and farms (+5%). However, this was balanced by decreasing visits to the two sectors with the highest number of attractions. Museums/art galleries, which represent around a third of all attractions, recorded a notable decrease in visits (-3%), following an increase in visits in 2004 (+4%). Visits to museums/art galleries tend to be adversely affected by fine weather. Visits to historic houses/castles, which account for about a fifth of attractions, declined by -2%, following a 1% decline reported in 2004. Despite the dry weather, visits to leisure/theme parks also declined by -6% in 2005 following a -1% decline in 2004. Although leisure/theme parks represent only around 2% of attractions, they account for over 10% of visits. Country parks (+7%) and farms (+5%) continued their recovery of the past three years after their decline in 2001. Following several uncertain years, visits to wildlife attractions/zoos also increased by +5% in 2005, again boosted by the dry weather. Visits to gardens continued to be largely dependent upon the weather, with visits up by +8% in 2005 following a decline of -6% in 2004 and an increase of +6% in 2003. Following recent declines, visits to places of worship now show signs of increases in visits, increasing by +3% in 2005 following a year of stability in 2004. Table A.2 England visit trends 2004-2005 – by admission type (%) Admission Attractions Increase No change Decrease % 05/04 sample Free (709) 49 22 29 +* Paid (1,283) 50 8 42 -* England (1,992) 50 13 37 -* Not only were visits overall stable in 2005, they were also stable among both free (+*%) and paid (-*) attractions. This position of overall stability does mask some changes within attraction categories (see Table 2.3). In particular, visits to free museums/art galleries declined by -3% compared with -1% to paid museums/art galleries, whereas visits to free visitor/heritage centres increased by +6% compared with just +1% among their paid equivalents. VISITOR ATTRACTION TRENDS ENGLAND 2005 5 KEY FINDINGS Table A.3 England visit trends 2004-2005 - by geographic location (%) Geographic location Attractions % 05/04 sample Coastal (212) -6 Rural (949) +4 Urban (831) -1 England (1,992) -* Following a year of stability in 2004, visits to rural attractions once again increased by +4% in 2005. This was driven by increases in visits to farms, country parks and gardens. Visits to coastal attractions suffered in 2005, decreasing by -6% despite the dry weather. Whilst many regions reported a decline, the most significant was within the North West, whose coastal attractions reported a -19% decline (whilst the North of England recorded a drier than average year, rainfall was not as low as that observed in the South). Following an increase of +3% in 2004, visits to urban attractions remained relatively stable in 2005, declining slightly by -1%. Table A.4 England visit trends 2004-2005 – by volume of visits (%) Volume of visits Attractions % 05/04 sample 20,000 or less (1005) -2 20,001-50,000 (360) +2 50,001-100,000 (222) +2 100,001-200,000 (197) +1 Over 200,000 (208) -1 England (1,992) -* During 2005, the trend for visits to migrate away from the very smallest attractions has continued. Attractions with 20,000 visits or less reported another slight decline in visits (-2%), the same as reported in 2004. This follows two years in which their increase had been lower than at larger attractions. Attractions with between 20,000 and 200,000 visits per annum recorded slight growth. Conversely, attractions with over 200,000 visits recorded a slight decrease in visits in 2005 (-1%), following an increase (+2%) in 2004. This was driven by declines in visits to some of the major national free museums and art galleries, particularly in London. VISITOR ATTRACTION TRENDS ENGLAND 2005 6 KEY FINDINGS Table A.5 Overall visits trends 2004-2005 - by English Government Office Region (%) Region Attractions % 05/04 sample North East (109) +2 North West (179) -6 Yorkshire/The Humber (159) +8 East Midlands (158) +3 West Midlands (156) +2 Eastern (328) +5 London (154) -5 South East (386) +3 South West (363) -* England (1,992) -* Visits to attractions showed growth in the majority of regions, with visits to attractions in Yorkshire/The Humber (+8%) and the East (+5%) reporting particularly strong increases. However, visits to attractions in both the North West (-6%) and London (-5%) declined notably. In London, this followed a strong performance in 2004 when visits were up by (+6%). The negative impact of the July bombings in London on visits to the capital appears to have been significant. London also tends to be adversely affected by fine weather – 2005 being a drier summer than the exceptionally wet summer of 2004.