Northumberland Market Town Visitor Surveys 2009: Berwick upon Tweed For Northumberland Tourism March 2010 Northumberland Market Town Visitor Surveys 2009: Berwick upon Tweed, March 2010 Page 2 Contents 1. Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................3 2. Project background ..................................................................................................................................7 3. Aims and objectives .................................................................................................................................7 4. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................................8 5. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................9 6. Key findings ............................................................................................................................................. 10 6.1 Visitor characteristics ...................................................................................................................... 10 6.1.1 Origin .............................................................................................................................................. 10 6.1.2 Frequency of visits ........................................................................................................................ 11 6.1.3 Type of visit ................................................................................................................................... 12 6.1.4 Reasons for visiting ...................................................................................................................... 13 6.1.5 Group travel .................................................................................................................................. 14 6.1.6 Group size and composition ...................................................................................................... 14 6.2 Planned activities ............................................................................................................................... 15 6.3 Travel & Transport ........................................................................................................................... 16 6.3.1 Method of transport .................................................................................................................... 16 6.3.2 Car parks ........................................................................................................................................ 18 6.4 Accommodation ................................................................................................................................ 20 6.4.1 Type of accommodation used ................................................................................................... 20 6.4.2 Experience of accommodation .................................................................................................. 22 6.5 Attractions visited ............................................................................................................................. 23 6.5.1 Events visited ................................................................................................................................. 24 6.5.2 Tourist Information Centre ....................................................................................................... 25 6.6 Experience of visit ............................................................................................................................. 27 6.6.1 Overall satisfaction ....................................................................................................................... 27 6.6.2 Satisfaction with specific aspects and priorities .................................................................... 30 6.6.3 Visitor likes and dislikes .............................................................................................................. 39 6.7 Visitor expenditure ........................................................................................................................... 46 6.7.1 Average spend per person per day .......................................................................................... 47 6.7.2 Average spend per person per trip .......................................................................................... 49 6.8 Visitor demographics ....................................................................................................................... 50 6.8.1 Age and gender ............................................................................................................................. 50 6.8.2 Work situation .............................................................................................................................. 51 6.8.3 Disability ......................................................................................................................................... 51 6.8.4 Ethnicity .......................................................................................................................................... 52 7. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 53 8. Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 55 9. Appendices .............................................................................................................................................. 56 9.1 Survey .................................................................................................................................................. 56 9.2 Verbatim comments ......................................................................................................................... 64 Project number: Trism08-5197 Title: Market Town Welcome Surveys Location: ..\..\TRISM08-5197_MTW_Analysis Date: March 2010 Report status: Final version This research has been carried out in compliance with the MRQSA Approved by: Nick How international standard (ISO20:252) Authors: Millie Ostlere & Zak Haeri © Northumberland Tourism 2010 Northumberland Market Town Visitor Surveys 2009: Berwick upon Tweed, March 2010 Page 3 1. Executive Summary Project background The Market Town Welcome (MTW) programme was established in 2008 in collaboration with One North East, Northumberland County Council (NCC), Northumberland Tourism (NT) and the Development Trusts in each of the towns mentioned below This research will provide benchmarks in 2009/2010 against which to measure the performance of the MTW Programme and its initiatives The research will also add to a suite of research data used to advise a range of planning and policy processes in Northumberland and North East England Alongside this report, individual reports for Alnwick, Amble, Haltwhistle, Hexham, Morpeth, Seahouses and Wooler are available, as well as an overall comparison report Aims and objectives The overarching aim of the MTW research is to ‘Improve visitor satisfaction of Northumberland market towns and raise their profile within the visitor economy’ To target the research objectives, NT commissioned face-to-face quantitative surveys for each of the market towns. Street interviews were conducted over four days in both the spring and summer of 2009. Only people who were visiting the town were included. Those who lived and/or worked in the town, or were there on business were excluded By achieving 487 completions in Berwick upon Tweed, we can approximate the error margin to be low (+/-4.4%) at a confidence level 95%, which offers robust results Visitor characteristics The majority (98%) of respondents to this survey were UK residents, with 2% from overseas. Respondents from the UK were most likely to live in the North East (49%), followed by Scotland (23%). Three quarters of visitors (75%) said they had visited Berwick upon Tweed before. Out of these respondents, 70% had previously visited at least once in the last 12 months The greatest proportion (69%) of respondents said their trip was a staying visit compared to 31% who were day visitors. Nearly half of staying visitors (45%) said they were staying outside of Berwick upon Tweed. The main reason visitors chose Berwick upon Tweed was for general sightseeing © Northumberland Tourism 2010 Northumberland Market Town Visitor Surveys 2009: Berwick upon Tweed, March 2010 Page 4 Travel & Transport More than three quarters (78%) of those who mainly used a car, van or motorhome to reach Berwick upon Tweed said it was very or fairly easy to travel into Berwick upon Tweed Town Centre. More than half (57%) said it was easy or very easy to park in the town and almost half (41%) said the cost of parking was reasonable or very reasonable. Only 2% of respondents travelled by train Accommodation Out of those staying in Berwick upon Tweed, again staying in a rented static caravan was the most likely type of accommodation chosen (27%). All listed aspects of accommodation were rated as good or very good by approximately three quarters of visitors Attractions visited The Ramparts/Walls and Holy Island were most likely to be chosen by respondents