The number of people visiting the high street in the Cornish resort of Newquay actually increased in 2021 - even compared to pre-pandemic 2019.
Newquay Business Improvement District (BID) has been reviewing the footfall data for the year and discovered the number hike in popularity.
It said it demonstrates that residents and visitors are increasingly using the high street and this increase applies not just to the summer months but also the winter period.
Newquay BID is the only organisation that collects in-depth intelligence and data on behalf of the town with a footfall monitoring counter on Bank Street as well as a second device on Cliff Road.
Both devices are actively collecting a wealth of data for the town, which will help inform future decisions aimed at improving the town and allowing BID to assess the impact of any campaigns or initiatives on people’s movements.
Calculated using weekly averages, there was a 48.4 % increase in footfall on the high street on Fridays in 2021 in comparison to 2019, a decrease of -3.9% on Saturdays but an 18.3% increase of footfall to the town on Sundays.
Other takeaways were that the total number of visitors for the year 2021 was 5,958,759 which is 47.7% up on the previous year, although this was the year of continual Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns so no real comparison can be made.
This comes as many of the town’s businesses note a distinct business continuity throughout the winter period during 2021 where trade may have usually decreased in a usual year.
One such business is the Lewinnick Lodge where owner Dan Trotter said: “We definitely enjoyed a busier than normal winter period last year with trade not dropping off as dramatically as it would have in other years.
“We think this was an aftermath of the staycation boom with people keen to extend the holiday period and possibly realising what is on their doorstep all year round.
“Obviously with such a difficult few years, this was very welcome and we hope this continues into 2022. It is good to know that similar increases are being seen right across the destination and that visitors to hotels such as ours are also utilising the town centre and the high street businesses whilst here.”
Laura Cameron, operations director of the Fistral Beach Hotel and The Esplanade Hotel, said: “Across our Newquay hotels, we have definitely seen an increase in occupancy over the latest winter period, and interestingly, we also saw a higher demand for spa breaks than the year prior.
“Amongst our guests, there was an obvious desire to escape to a place where they could simply relax and forget their everyday routine and the hustle and bustle for a little while.”
Newquay BID interim manager Kim Harris said: “We have been reviewing the footfall data and there are a number of interesting insights. Although the beginning of 2021 was slow for obvious reasons, the rest of the year had higher footfall on the high street showing that people are still using and enjoying Newquay town centre as well as our beaches and surrounds.
“The pandemic has introduced a new audience of people to Newquay who may usually have gone on holiday overseas but we hope that they have been captivated by Newquay’s charms and may return in the future to holiday closer to home.
“Although foreign travel is now opening up, we still expect 2022 to be another busy year for Newquay tourism. Our town boasts a rich and diverse business landscape and a fantastic sense of community, with a new wave of food and drink experiences, coffee shops and retail options. This footfall data shows that the high street certainly is not dead. It has undeniably been a really difficult few years and with further restrictions lifting in the near future, we look forward to seeing many more people making the most of the town centre safely and sensibly. We have an exciting event schedule arranged for 2022 with some much-loved events returning after a number of years.”
The Newquay-based devices offer 24/7 footfall monitoring of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, which provide a wealth of data for businesses, authorities and future investors, including seasonal averages, variations, daily and monthly footfall reporting. This mechanism allows comparisons to be made to other coastal towns and also grants BID to qualify to take part in other quarterly reports that can be accessed through Springboard, the leading provider of retail data analytics and retail traffic counting.
