Date issued: 21 November 2018
The future for tourism in Colchester looks bright as visitors are continuing to head to the Borough of Colchester to discover the town and the surrounding areas, according to latest figures.
Official statistics compiled using the industry-standard Cambridge Economic Impact Model show, during 2017, day trips to the Borough of Colchester rose by 6.5% -- a significant rise on the preceding years’ increases of 2.8% and 2.6% respectively.
In total, Colchester attracted 6,475,000 trips with an associated value of £225,099,000 – up 6% on 2016.
Overnight stays of 274,000 are 0.4% lower than 2016. However, the value of these trips has risen 4.3% providing a growth to the visitor economy of £51,533,000.
This marginal dip in overnight figures is a trend replicated across Essex and work is ongoing with Visit Essex to understand the factors affecting this.
Overall tourism was worth £366,124,300 to the Borough economy in 2017 and supported over 6,000 jobs.
Cllr Tim Young, Portfolio Holder for Business and Culture and Deputy Leader of Colchester Borough Council, said: “Attracting visitors to Colchester continues to be a key strategic priority for the council. These latest figures are extremely encouraging and prove that the area is delivering a great tourism offering to visitors.
“However, we are very aware that tourism is a long-term strategy and converting visitors to stay over is a pivotal part of the work that we are doing now in 2018 – for instance, launching Colchester’s first ever TV advert on Sky earlier this year.”
A new tourism campaign will be launched before the end of the year and plans for 2019 include a further run of the television campaign and a number of events all planned to promote Colchester as a key tourist destination in the East of England.
Full details of the 2017 ‘Volume and Value of Tourism Report’ can be found here.