Reflective Essay for global competency certificate
Coastal Tourism Monitor - Wave 2 Results
1. Coastal Tourism Monitor
A snapshot of the performance of tourism
businesses on England’s coast
Results from Wave 2
(July and August 2016)
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2. Introduction
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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 400 tourism businesses
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 July and August i.e. school summer holidays
➢5-16 December 2016, reviewing mid-September to the end of November
This report presents results from the second survey wave.
3. Business profile
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Business type Number of employees Business region
The core sample involved:
• 389 accommodation establishments including mix by region, establishment size and hotels / guest houses /
B&B / self-catering / caravan and campsites.
• 20 visitor attractions including mix by region, attraction type, and size (measured by annual visitor admissions).
4. Business performance, July and August,
compared to same period last year
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Overall across coastal businesses Performance by business type and across regions
“For most business, performance was
either up or the same as the same period
last year. There were differences between
business type and across the regions.”
5. Reasons for decrease in performance, July and
August, compared to same period last year
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“The majority of businesses which saw a fall in trade attributed this to a reduction in the volume of visitors to their
business or to their area. A number of businesses blamed this on fewer overseas visitors following Brexit.”
6. Reasons for increase in performance, July and
August, compared to same period last year
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“Good weather, an increase in staycation due to security fears abroad, and a general increase in
the appeal of the destination, were identified as top three reasons driving growth.”
7. Business performance expectation for next 3
months, compared to same period last year
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Overall across coastal businesses Performance by business type and across regions
“Looking ahead, most businesses expect
performance to be the same or better than
last year. Hotels and visitor attractions are
the most confident about performance.”
8. Key challenges affecting coastal businesses
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Are there key challenges affecting your
business sector?
What are these challenges?
“40% of businesses reported that there are key
challenges facing their business with poor and
often unpredictable weather being the main
challenge. Other challenges were local
competition and the poor UK economic climate.”
Note that multiple responses
permitted
Other challenges included lack
of funding/support from local
councils, transport problems
such as ferry prices, parking
or traffic jams and concerns
over Brexit
9. Visitor market
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% of visitors from overseas among businesses Where are overseas visitors from?
“87% of businesses received some visitors from overseas mostly from Western Europe, USA/Canada or
Australia/New Zealand. Western European visitors were most likely to come from Germany the
Netherlands or France.
Business in the South West and the North East were most likely to receive visitors from overseas. ”
% of overseas visitors
For just over a third of all tourism
businesses, up to 5% of visitors are
from overseas
13% of tourism
businesses have no
visitors from overseas
10. Visitor market
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Changes seen in visitor needs/profile? What are these changes?
There's a lot people these days
that have special dietary
requirements, like being
vegetarian, or vegan, or
Gluten-free, and we now have
to cater to all that.
Expectations are getting
higher, especially in terms of
technology, with people
expecting there to be fast wi-fi
and sports television available.
We’re getting more younger
people than we used to.
Thanks to Trip Advisor, people
are expecting a lot more in
terms of freebies.
We have seen more younger
people; they come with
unrealistic expectations as they
do not really understand what
a B&B is, and expect what a
hotel would provide.
Comments from businesses
“Just over a third of all businesses have experienced
changes in visitor needs/profile.
The main change is the rising expectations of visitors.
Other changes include more younger visitors and
families. ”
11. Initiatives taken to boost business in
approaching off-peak season
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Now the main holiday season is over, what are you doing to attract additional customers and maintain
business performance during the off peak period?
“Half of all businesses have not yet taken any actions to bolster trade over the coming off-
peak season, though a number mentioned they planned to do so around October. 16% had
started doing special promotions and 9% had reduced prices. ”
12. Comparison with wave 1 survey
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“Generally businesses reported more positive results compared to last year than in the spring. 40% reported that
performance was better compared to 29% in the spring. Camping/caravan sites and visitor attractions were the
most likely to have noticed change – either positive or negative compared with last year. Business during the
school holidays was generally a little better than had been expected in the spring.
Where business was down, 11% noted that visitors were spending less money compared to only 5% in the spring.”
“In terms of challenges, there was no significant change from those mentioned in the spring with unpredictable
weather continuing to be the key one.
Many businesses in the spring noted the customer expectations were rising and this is still evident in wave two.
61% of those who had seen change mentioned this, in most cases just finding customers generally more
demanding. However catering for special diets, good internet access and facilities for disabled people were specific
areas where more is expected these days.“
13. Destination Managers
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“Destination managers were mostly quite bullish about performance during the summer with better weather being
the key reason. Some noted a growth in staycations because of security fears.
Most expected business to be about the same or better over the next 3 months.
Destinations reported a number of different activities that they were using to attract out of season visits including
events, promoting activity holidays and targeted marketing campaigns.”
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The research will be repeated in
December 2016 to assess business
performance over the winter and
business confidence for the start of
2017.
15. 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