ASVA VISITOR TREND REPORT - JANUARY 2011/2012 OVERVIEW Visitor figures for January 2011/2012 were received from 215 sites. 10 sites requested confidentiality, and although their numbers have been included in the calculations, they do not appear in the tables below. 75 sites noted that they were closed for the season. The Riverside Museum in Glasgow was not open in 2010 so their figures for 2011 are shown in the table below for reference but have not been included in the calculation. And following discussion with colleagues, we have published the 2010 and 2011 figures for the National Museum of Scotland but these have not been included in the calculations. The reason for this decision is that the site was only partially open in 2010 whilst it was undergoing major refurbishment and upgrade, prior to the re-opening of the whole site in the summer of 2011. As can be seen, the total increase in visitor numbers is just under 300%, and to include these considerable numbers in the calculations would skew the national figure (see below). In addition, there are 6 sites for which there was no comparable data Comparable data was therefore received from 134 sites. The total number of visits recorded in January 2011 was 788,707 this compares with 733,699 in 2010 and indicates an increase of 7.5%. January 2012 had much better overall weather conditions than 2011 which saw widespread disruption because of low temperatures, sleet and snow. It was a relatively mild month, although the start of the month carried over some stormy conditions from December. Scotland was wetter than normal (122% of average) but ironically it was also sunnier enjoying 112% of average sunshine for the month. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/05/january-weather-temperature-warm January 2010 January 2011 % change SCOTLAND TOTAL (134) 733,699 788,707 7.5% Table 1 – Scotland January 2011/2012 The slightly better weather throughout January appears to have had a positive effect on visits to attractions, with almost 60% noting an increase. Many Edinburgh sites continue to see year on year increases, benefitting from the low cost flights into the airport and of course the arrival of the new pandas has helped the Zoo see an increase of over 100%. We have only published a national table below but in the next month or so we’d hope to be back to publishing SE and HIE individually as well as the overall national figure Name Jan-11 Jan-12 Aberdour Castle 276 442 60.1% Aberlour Distillery 98 91 -7.1% Almond Valley Heritage Trust 3992 4429 10.9% Arbroath Abbey 214 315 47.2% Arduaine Garden 51 29 -43.1% Argyll's Lodgings 614 425 -30.8% Barry Mill 0 20 Black House 34 16 -52.9% Blackness Castle 472 644 36.4% Blair Castle 1187 651 -45.2% Bothwell Castle 306 317 3.6% Brodick Castle, Garden & Country Park 8 Broughty Castle Museum 1253 1479 18.0% Caerlaverock Castle 514 667 29.8% CairnGorm Mountain 5571 7134 28.1% Callendar House 869 855 -1.6% Camera Obscura and World of Illusions 33.9% Camperdown Wildlife Centre 503 1857 269.2% Cardoness Castle 30 16 -46.7% Castle Campbell 265 546 106.0% Castle Semple Centre 4845 4773 -1.5% Chatelherault Country Park 33702 33586 -0.3% City Art Centre 5715 4586 -19.8% Corgarff Castle 0 8 Cornalees Centre/ Greenock Cut 3440 210 -93.9% Craigmillar Castle 559 715 27.9% Craignethan Castle 102 97 -4.9% Crathes Castle, Garden & Estate 379 508 34.0% Culloden Battlefield visitor centre 198 221 11.6% Culzean Country Park 3828 3859 0.8% Dallas Dhu Distillery 68 54 -20.6% David Livingstone Centre 180 257 42.8% Dewar's World of Whisky 506 601 18.8% Dirleton Castle 566 685 21.0% Discovery Point 1557 7528 383.5% Doune Castle 509 804 58.0% Drumpellier Country Park 57122 72102 26.2% Dryburgh Abbey 185 236 27.6% Dumbarton Castle 180 248 37.8% Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura 838 1051 25.4% Dunblane Cathedral 690 354 -48.7% Dundee Science Centre 2875 2487 -13.5% Dundrennan Abbey 22 9 -59.1% Dunfermline Palace 239 265 10.9% Dunstaffnage Castle 128 165 28.9% Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World 3896 3345 -14.1% Edinburgh Castle 41363 44812 8.3% Edinburgh Zoo 23243 48593 109.1% Edzell Castle 47 67 42.6% Elgin Cathedral 132 208 57.6% Fort George 446 471 5.6% Gallery of Modern Art 34740 35295 1.6% Glasgow Cathedral 7897 5560 -29.6% Glasgow Museums Resource Centre 644 1006 56.2% Glencoe 198 193 -2.5% Greenbank Garden 1053 1566 48.7% Highland Wildlife Park 4073 3092 -24.1% Huntingtower Castle 125 210 68.0% Huntly Castle 155 127 -18.1% Inveresk Lodge Garden 8 35 337.5% Iona Abbey 53 44 -17.0% Jacobite Cruises Ltd 2317 2427 4.7% Jedburgh Abbey 179 251 40.2% Johnstons of Elgin 15169 12458 -17.9% Kelvingrove Art Gallery 56185 58811 4.7% Lauriston Castle 2939 2994 1.9% Leith Mills 11895 10754 -9.6% Linlithgow Palace 1306 1535 17.5% Low Parks Museum 1929 1920 -0.5% Macduff Marine Aquarium 1502 1496 -0.4% Malleny Garden 0 19 Melrose Abbey 540 602 11.5% Mills Observatory 888 1180 32.9% Muirshiel Centre 434 387 -10.8% Museum of Childhood 3950 11268 185.3% Museum of Edinburgh 2310 2123 -8.1% National Mining Museum Scotland 2020 1975 -2.2% National Museum of Flight 1330 1141 -14.2% National Museum of Rural Life 3568 4002 12.2% National Museum of Scotland 37059 140368 National War Museum 25009 19557 -21.8% Nelson Monument 538 526 -2.2% Nevis Range 7760 5981 -22.9% New Abbey Corn Mill 12 20 66.7% New Lanark Visitor Centre 1696 1471 -13.3% New Lanark World Heritage Site 13860 16216 17.0% Palacerigg Country Park 27435 33291 21.3% Peoples Story 2010 2333 16.1% Pictavia 34 Pollok House 4381 3341 -23.7% Priorwood Garden 10 Provand's Lordship 3616 3238 -10.5% Queensferry Museum 269 379 40.9% Riverside Museum 53431 Robert Burns Birthplace Museum 50625 19156 -62.2% Robert Burns Centre 1340 1959 46.2% Robert Burns House 638 1119 75.4% Rosslyn Chapel 3554 3867 8.8% Rothesay Castle 60 59 -1.7% Scotland Street School Museum 4833 3089 -36.1% Scott Monument 1840 1740 -5.4% Scottish Seabird Centre 13652 13146 -3.7% Skara Brae 238 166 -30.3% Smailholm Tower 70 57 -18.6% Spynie Palace 62 35 -43.5% St Andrews Castle 1511 1832 21.2% St Andrews Cathedral 807 522 -35.3% St Giles' Cathedral 24695 34891 41.3% Stanley Mills 527 61 -88.4% Stirling Castle 9108 10751 18.0% Strathclyde Country Park 41495 42684 Sweetheart Abbey 45 19 -57.8% Tantallon Castle 497 714 43.7% The Burrell Collection 11260 12879 14.4% The Falkirk Wheel 5041 5702 13.1% The McManus 10796 11469 6.2% The Museum of the University of St Andrews 1097 The People's Palace Museum 12435 11262 -9.4% The Scotch Whisky Experience 12155 11936 -1.8% The Scottish Parliament 26951 21867 -18.9% The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life And Art 5186 4974 -4.1% The Willow Tea Rooms 7118 7442 4.6% Tolquhon Castle 62 63 1.6% Tomatin Distillery Visitor Centre 128 44 -65.6% Tormiston Mill 104 85 -18.3% Trinity House 38 0 Urquhart Castle 3657 4037 10.4% Writers Museum 1944 1890 -2.8% 757955 788707 4.1% Table 2 – individual listing 2011.12 AVERAGE SPEND DATA We would like to thank everyone who submitted data on admission, retail and catering spend to Lynn Jones Research (LJR). This has allowed them to calculate averages and we are able to publish these (with confidence in their accuracy). This will allow you to start benchmarking your own figures with the national average. Figures are shown exclusive of VAT. AVERAGE FOR JANUARY 2012 (the number of sites contributing to each category is shown in brackets) SPV = Spend Per Visitor Spend Per Ticket Sold = ticket income divided by number of tickets sold No. of visitors Ticket SPV Spend per ticket sold Retail SPV Catering SPV 7172 (115) £2.46 (70) £4.80 (30) £1.85(66) £2.22 (13) Table 3 - average spends January 2012 Further breakdowns per attraction type and region (using the information supplied by you) has been done but not published as not every category has sufficient data to be meaningful. It is hoped that as more sites contribute data over the coming months, more detailed benchmarking across sub-sector and geographic area will become available. .