Member Article

Record year for Eastbourne as tourism hits £379m

Eastbourne saw a record year for tourism with over 5 million people visiting the seaside resort 2014, according to a new report released this week.

Attracting the highest number in over 20 years, the research report by Tourism South East based on visitors throughout 2014, shows a significant increase, bucking the trend nationally in a year which saw visitors to England fall.

The total value of tourism in Eastbourne, taking into account indirect and income induced spending is now estimated to be £380m over the course of the year.

Helped by an increase in overseas marketing activity by VisitEastbourne, the fastest growing group of visitors are overseas tourists, increasing by 10%, staying on average 5 nights more and spending 182% more than domestic visitors.

Day visitors also grew by 5%, spending 13% more than usual, signalling the rise of the independent day tripper.

Eastbourne Borough Council Lead Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism and Enterprise, Cllr Margaret Bannister said “This is a record year for Eastbourne and great news to see such a promising increase in overseas visitors and independent day trippers, whose spend within the town tends to be much higher. We’ve really upped our game in terms of overseas marketing and exhibitions, so it is great to see this paying dividends within our local economy.”

Eastbourne’s employment figures also saw a boost in 2014 with tourism supported jobs increasing by 7%, with one in five local jobs now supported by tourism.

Key statistics from the 2014 report include:

• Staying visitors 707,000
• Bed nights 2,107,000
• Staying visitors spend £167,836,000
• Day visits 4,300,000
• Day visitor spend £125,230,000
• Overseas staying visitors 68,000
• Overseas visitor spending £38,732,000
• Total spending (removing expenditure outside of the town boundary) of £280,874,000 includes:
• Food & Drink £97,960,000
• Accommodation £54,309,000
• Travel (spent within the town) £31,373,000
• Shopping £45,761,000
• Attractions/entertainment £42,746,000
• Other £8,725,000
• Tourism supported jobs 7,853
• Total value of Tourism £379,562,000

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .