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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


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


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.

mailto:[email protected]

Size of the Visitor Economy


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]. .




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.



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



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



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



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

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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

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£1

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1.0

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£2

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£2

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£2

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9.0

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£2

,11

9.0

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£2

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5.0

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£2

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5.0

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£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



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:

[email protected].

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


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.



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


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.



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

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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


Room yield monthly tends

2011 2012 2013

Local Data


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

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0

81

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0

86

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0

98

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0

91

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0

91

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92

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81

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92

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5.6

8

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10

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10

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12

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5,0

00

12

4,0

00

11

5,0

00

10

3,0

00


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


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


Local Data


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


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


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


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


11 Saturday figure only, due to event being cancelled because of bad weather

12

Figure covers >10,000 runners

Local Data


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



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.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


b) Staying Visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of

staying

visitors

Visitors to


% 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


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


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


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


% 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


b) Staying visitors

Visitors to the

whole City Region

% of day

visitors

Visitors to


% 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


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


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%


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


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


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

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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


Forecasts


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.


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.


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


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

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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


Forecasts


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‟.


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


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


43

45

52

85

88

89

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2012 2013 2014

Hotel establishments


Articles


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

http://liverpoollep.org/

http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/


http://www.caa.co.uk/airportstatistics

http://www.etc-corporate.org/

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home

http://www.liv.ac.uk/impacts08/

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

http://www.dft.gov.uk/

http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/

http://liverpoollep.org/default.aspx


http://www.caa.co.uk/

http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/

Appendices


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

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/downloads/sic2007explanatorynotes.pdf

Appendices


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


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.

http://liverpoollep.org/priorities/visitor_economy.aspx

http://liverpoollep.org/about_lep/key_documents.aspx

http://visitliverpool.biz/


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

[email protected]
