In common with a number of other colleague David Thornton on the Isle of Wight is trying to assess how business in his destination compares with that experienced in other destinations of all types, especially in light of some of the recent national headline pronouncements. Can you please consider briefing David either verbally or by email on either the available facts and/or your gut reaction so far on the 2017 summer season. In return we will make any substantive findings available to the membership.
David’s original request reads:
The Isle of Wight has had a “year of two halves” – up until late June we were running at 4% growth, with strongest growth in the early spring, but as we moved into July, our July – September inclusive period was around 5% down in volume, and slightly less in spend.
Clearly Bestival moving to the mainland will have had an impact on our September figures, and the poor weather in July and August (compared to an almost perfect summer last year) won’t have helped, along with all the economic challenges the UK is facing… but we also saw from the mid year GBTS figures from Visit England that the Northern coastal destinations appeared to be having a fairly good year.
We wondered if anyone else was prepared to share their early performance figures for the summer so that we can get as broad a picture as possible. We’re talking about the domestic market here, which makes up 93% of our visitors. If anyone can email me with any initial assessments from their destinations, coastal or otherwise, that is always really helpful at this time of year!
Kind regards
David A Thornton
Chief Executive / Director of Marketing – Visit Isle of Wight Ltd
Museum of Island History, The Guildhall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 1TY
Telephone (01983) 521555 EXT 30
David Thornton <david@visitwight.org>
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British Destinations 