Tourism across Sefton is worth nearly £500m to the local economy.

Sep 28, 20162 min read

Figures released as part of a City Region visitor survey and statistics from a nationally recognised tourism indicator (STEAM) reveal tourism throughout the borough continues to grow.

The STEAM (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Model) is produced annually by Global Tourism solutions and is commissioned in partnership through the LEP along with the other districts.

STEAM quantifies the local economic impact of tourism, from both staying and day visitors, and analysis on things like visitor attraction numbers, tourist accommodation, events attendance, transport, occupancy levels, accommodation tariffs and visitor expenditure.

The key findings of the Sefton 2015 report reveal:

Total economic impact of £498.08m (increase of +5.7% since the 2014 result of £471.09m)
Total visitor numbers 8.65m (increase of +4.5% since the 2014 result of 8.27m)
Total employment 6,340 (increase of +3% since 2014 result of 6,156)

The Liverpool City Region Visitor Survey is conducted every 5 years, and provides valuable profiling data of visitors to the area for the use of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and its key partners.

Some of the key findings for Sefton include:

Almost all respondents were likely at some level to recommend visiting Sefton (99%), with the majority ‘very’ likely. This reflects the overall satisfaction score, with all respondents providing a positive response (100%)
The average spend by visitors staying in Sefton/Southport was £195.89 (including accommodation); whilst those on a staying trip based outside of Sefton spent an average total of £116.25. Day visitors to Sefton spent an average total of £30.53
The most popular factor associated with Sefton as a destination was ‘Lord Street / Shopping’, with 51% of respondents rating it as the first most associated factor

Cllr Marion Atkinson, Cabinet Member Regeneration and Skills, said: "These figures come as no surprise and show that Tourism across Sefton is on the up and the borough is open for all business.

"Visitors come from all over the UK to Sefton and our attractions and events programme really stand out.

"The surveys reveal how important the coast is and similar feedback about our amazing coastline was highlighted through the Sefton 2030 Vision.

"Sefton really is a tourism destination and with the arrival of next year's Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale, we will be seen again in a positive light on a global scale."