To gauge business performance on England’s coast we’ve commissioned a new three-part survey which collects the views from accommodation and attraction providers on their past performance and future prospects to paint a national and regional picture.

1. Coastal Tourism Monitor
Results from Wave 1
(Easter to end of May 2016)
1

2. Introduction
2
The Coastal Tourism Monitor has been designed to provide a snapshot of the
performance of tourism businesses on England’s coast. The research collects
feedback on past performance and future prospects to give a national and regional
overview.
The research involves a telephone survey with a core sample of 443 tourism
businesses and 14 Destination Managers from around the English coast and will be
conducted 3 times per year. Businesses making up the core sample were recruited
to reflect the nature and distribution of tourism businesses around the English
coast.
Fieldwork dates are:
 6-17 June 2016, reviewing Easter to the end of May
 5-16 September 2016, reviewing end of May until the end of the school summer holidays
 5-16 December 2016, reviewing mid-September until the end of November

3. Business profile
3
Business type Number of employees Business region
0
36%
Less than 4
40%
5 to 9
8%
10 to 49
13%
50 to 249
2%
250 plus
1%
The core sample involved:
• 416 accommodation establishments including mix by region, establishment size and hotels / guest houses /
B&B / self-catering / caravan and campsites.
• 27 visitor attractions including mix by region, attraction type, and size (measured by annual visitor admissions).

4. 36%
14%
17%
37%
31% 29%
20%
39%
52% 50%
35%
40% 41%
48%
East Midlands East England North East North West South East South West Yorkshire
Business was better Business was about the same Business was worse
35%
27%
32%
24%
30%
40% 41%
46%
31%
48%
Hotels Guesthouses/B&Bs Self-catering Caravan/camping
sites
Visitor attraction
Business was better Business was about the same Business was worse
Business performance, Easter to end of May,
compared to same period last year
4
Overall across coastal businesses Performance by business type and across regions
25%
32%
22%
45%
22%
25%
33% 33%
28% 29% 30%
32%
“A significant proportion of tourism
businesses saw a fall in performance over
Easter to the end of May.”

5. Reasons for decrease in performance, Easter to
end of May, compared to same period last year
5
“Poor weather was by far the main factor driving down business performance.
Storm Katie hit the UK over the Easter weekend.”
0%
1%
1%
1%
2%
4%
4%
4%
5%
11%
12%
42%
Staffing difficulties
Visitors staying for shorter period/reducing trip length
Business closed during some parts of this period
Competition from other parts of the UK
Running costs/operational costs have increase
Haven't marketed business much this year
Competition from overseas holidays
Competition from other local businesses
Visitors spending less money on their visit
Fewer visitors/guests
Decline in the appeal of the area to visitors
Poor weather

6. Reasons for increase in performance, Easter to
end of May, compared to same period last year
6
“Good weather, an increase in the appeal of the area to visitors, and an increase in staycation
due to security fears abroad identified as top three reasons driving growth.”
0%
1%
2%
2%
4%
5%
5%
7%
10%
12%
12%
16%
20%
27%
Less competition from other parts of the UK
Running costs/operational costs have gone down
Visitors staying for longer period/increase in trip length
Less competition from other local businesses
Visitors spending more money on their visit
Better destination marketing campaigns which we are part of
Less competition from overseas holidays
Better marketing of businesses/spent more money on marketing this year
High customer satisfaction leading to more repeat visitors/new visitors
More visitors/guests
Investments we made to improve our offer last year starting to pay off
Staycation growth because of security fears abroad
Increase in appeal of the area to visitors
Fantastic weather

7. 47%
10%
17%
36% 38%
28%
20%
47%
71%
78%
50%
56%
64%
72%
East Midlands East England North East North West South East South West Yorkshire
Business to be better Business to be about the same Business to be worse
36%
28%
32% 34%
26%
53%
62% 62%
66% 67%
Hotels Guesthouses/B&Bs Self-catering Caravan/camping
sites
Visitor attraction
Business to be better Business to be about the same Business to be worse
Business performance expectation for next 3
months, compared to same period last year
7
Overall across coastal businesses Performance by business type and across regions
10% 10% 5%
0%
7%
6%
19%
5% 14% 5% 8% 8%
“Looking ahead, confidence is relatively high;
90% are confident that business will be as
good or better this summer than last year.”

8. Key challenges affecting coastal businesses
8
Are there key challenges affecting your
business sector?
What are these challenges?
Yes
49%
No
51%
0%
0%
1%
2%
3%
5%
7%
9%
9%
12%
26%
Lack of support from banks to reinvest
Security fears
Competition from other parts of UK
High UK retail prices
High staff turnover/lack of suitably
qualified/experienced staff
Competition from overseas holidays
Cost of using/competition from online
agents such as Hotels. com
Local competition
Over regulation
Poor UK economic climate - less money
in consumers' pockets
Poor weather/unpredictable weather
“Poor/unpredictable weather, followed by poor
economic climate were major concerns across all
business types and across all regions.”

9. 13%
46%
17%
10%
14%
None Up to 5% Up to 10% Up to 20% Over 20%
Visitor market
9
% of visitors from overseas among businesses Where are overseas visitors from?
“Overseas visitors mostly came from Europe (54% in total, of which 41% from Western Europe and 13%
from Eastern Europe).
The volume of overseas guests was similar across all business types but lower in East Midlands and the
East of England / higher in the South East and the South West.”
% of overseas visitors
For just under half of all coastal
tourism businesses, up to 5% of
visitors are from overseas

10. Visitor market
10
Changes seen in visitor needs/profile? What are these changes?
1%
2%
3%
5%
5%
6%
11%
15%
51%
More couples
Fewer families
Decline in visitors from overseas
Increase in visitors from overseas
Shortening of trip length
More older visitors
Increase in younger visitors & families
Increase in online booking
Rising customer expections/more
demanding
We're noticing a lot more
people that are just staying for
2 or 3 nights these days,
whereas we used to get a lot
more people that would stay for
a whole week previously.
The visitors are wanting more
and more these days. For
example they want internet
access, you give them that and
then they want it faster. People
are definitely more demanding
than they were.
We're getting more visitors that
are booking online nowadays,
and the ones that book online
tend to be very demanding and
a pain to have here.
When we took the business over
we had a lot of elderly guests
but we now have less of those
because we advertise on the
internet so the majority now are
families or couples in their late
20's to early 30's.
Yes
37%
No
63%
Comments from businesses
“Over a third of businesses have experienced changes in
visitor needs/profile.
Of these businesses, a half noted that customers expect
more these days.”

11. Destination Manager’s perspective
11
Business performance compared to same
period last year
Expectations for next 3 months compared to same period
last year
“In terms of key challenges affecting the industry, Destination Managers in common with
tourism businesses cited the unpredictable British weather as a key factor. They also cited
competition from other parts of the UK and lack of support from banks to reinvest. ”
Destination Managers
were generally more bullish
about business in the last
quarter with 50% saying
they thought it was better
than last year. However,
their reasons were quite
different from businesses –
most put it down to
investment paying off and
better marketing plus an
increase in staycations due
to security fears abroad.
Destination Mangers
were also more positive
about the summer period
than businesses with two
thirds expecting business
to be better than last year.

12. Impact of Brexit on tourism business
performance
12
Early signs are that we will
benefit enormously from Brexit,
both in terms of staycations and
overseas visitors owing to the
low value of the pound.
I think it is far too early to tell,
the lower £ will encourage
overseas visitors
Anecdotally, tourism businesses
and accommodations providers
are reporting good numbers.
Plus, the sun's decided to come
out!
Comments from Destination Managers
“The Destination Managers took part in the Coastal Tourism Monitor a few weeks after the Referendum
Result. An additional question was added to the survey on how they thought Brexit would impact on their
destination this year.
The survey found that nearly half of the destination managers noted that they expected some increase in
business as a result of Brexit arising from an increase in overseas visitors due to the lower value of the
pound and possibly more domestic tourists due to uncertainty about travelling abroad.
However, there was a feeling that in the longer term these increases may be balanced out the impact of
Brexit generally on the British economy.

13. 14
Overall business confidence for the
summer is good.
The research will be repeated in
September to assess the situation
over the main school holiday period
and then again in December 2016.

14. Connect with the NCTA
Linkedin.com/company/national-coastal-tourism-academy
Facebook.com/nationalcoastaltourismacademy
Twitter: @nctacademy
Website: coastaltourismacademy.co.uk
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For more information about the
Coastal Tourism Monitor please contact:
Jo Edom
Academy Manager
National Coastal Tourism Academy
t: 01202 962572
w: www.coastaltourismacademy.co.uk
e: jo.edom@coastaltourismacademy.co.uk