More than half of Essex businesses optimistic for summer holidays

More than half of visitor attractions in Essex are "optimistic" for the summer holidays.

That’s despite a cold and rainy May half-term, which saw less footfall across the region, particularly for outdoor venues.

A survey by Visit Essex found 55% of businesses are confident about the next 6 months and only 5% are not confident, with the remainder unsure.

Tourism and Place Marketing Manager, Lisa Bone, says weather always has an impact on visitor numbers.

She said: “We know that the weather always does have an impact. We always hope whenever it's a half term or a summer holiday that the weather's going to be kind and sunny for us. However, we have so many indoor attractions and actually when it is a little bit cooler, we do find that some of our museums, our stately homes, and activity centres do so much better. So, I think people are still going out and about, and from the businesses that we've spoken to it hasn't been too bad a week.

“I think there's always concern. The weather's one of those things that you can't predict. And combined with the economic climate as well, you know, the tourism industry is facing a very challenging time. However, our latest study did show that local businesses are optimistic for the summer.”

Visit Essex is launching a campaign to support business and tourism in the county.

Lisa Bone said: “Our role is to promote the county as a whole and try to support businesses. One thing we've done is introduce a new campaign this year, where we're attracting people from much further afield to stay in Essex. So, not only those on our doorstep or the surrounding counties in London, but also promoting in places like Yorkshire and Liverpool, where we have seen an interest over the past couple of years. Hopefully people will stay and therefore spend more money in our businesses.”

Recent figures show that Essex’s tourist economy has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Lisa explained: “Essex is doing fairly well compared to other destinations. Our visitor numbers are fairly high. We have £3.3 billion come into the visitor economy every year, and around 53 million visitors. We actually rank 16th in the whole of the country in terms of tourism visits, which when you think about London, Manchester, some of the big cities - actually being ranked 16th is pretty good.

“We're doing really well, and we've pretty much recovered now, back to pre-pandemic figures. So, we’ve got there much quicker than other destinations.”

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