The Overall Picture
Approximately 4.58 million visitors came to Cambridge in 2004. This figure is sourced from East of England Tourism's Volume and Value study. 20% of the visitors were staying and 29.5 % of these were from overseas.
In addition to the 4.58 million visitors to Cambridge City, there are many people who visit the South Cambridgeshire area who may at some point visit Cambridge City. In 2002 it was estimated that 3.9 million people visited South Cambridgeshire of which 24% were staying visitors.
The number of visitors to the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) had been decreasing slowly, since 1994, but has started to pick up again with a 7% increase in visitors from 2005 to 2006 and a 2% increase from 2006 to 2007. However these days more people have access to the Internet and this has increased trends for people organising holidays themselves. With the redesign of the VisitCambridge website, the introduction of online accommodation booking and an increase in information provision the number of visits to the Visit Cambridge website has increased significantly every year since 2004, in 2007 there were 501,872 unique visits to the visitcambridge pages, which was a 27% increase in last years figures, the VIC also receives over 32,000 telephone enquiries to the VIC office!
Nationally UK Tourism has been recovering from a slump. Figures from Visit Britain (who produce national statistics on tourism) show that UK Tourism is recovering from a slump dating back to the late 1990s. In 2006 32.7 million overseas visitors came to the UK (this is a 9% increase compared to 2005), spending also increase by 12% to £16.0 billion. Domestically 53.3 million holidays are estimated to have taken place in 2006, with an estimated expenditure of £10.9 billion, 19.2 million of these visits were overnight business trips, spending £4.6 billion.
To change all this VisitCambridge now offers more services than ever with accommodation and travel bookings, general information provision, guided tour bookings, a discount visitor card, conference booking facilities and much more. All are available face-to-face, over the telephone and online.
Impact of Tourism
Impact
Tourism brings benefits and problems to Cambridge.
It was estimated in 2004 that the overall value of tourism to Cambridge was over £355 million, that it supports 6,778 full-time equivalent jobs, which equates to 9,228 actual jobs.
There are also costs associated with tourism, principally, the congestion of people and vehicles. However, generally this
is only experienced in key locations at peak times.
Benefits | Problems | |
|---|---|---|
|
Spending on goods and services Creates and supports local jobs Supports services used by residents Raises Cambridge’s international profile Promotes contact between cultures Adds lively cosmopolitan atmosphere Supports conservation |
Congestion of people and vehicles
Disturbance Wear and tear on buildings and spaces Increased public service costs Development pressures Changes of identity and sense of place |
Accommodation
There were approximately 2883 serviced bed spaces in Cambridge in 2007, these were Bed and Breakfast, hotel
and guest-house accommodation. It is estimated that there are also 55 self catering units, 60 pitches for caravans and tents
and 100 bedspaces listed under group accommodation. Campus accommodation is estimated at over 7,000 bedspaces.
The amount of accommodation in Cambridge has increased steadily from 1000 in 1975. The most recent hotel developments have been the Travelodge at the Cambridge Leisure park and the Hotel du Vin on Trumpington rd.
Hotel occupancy rates give an indication of the pressures on serviced accommodation in Cambridge. Throughout the year average occupancy rates are around 24% higher than that of the East of England and over 23% higher than the other districts in the Cambridgeshire area. In the peak months room occupancy reached over 80%. In 2006 occupancy rates only fell under 60% twice, once in January and once in December(EET - serviced accommodation occupancy report 2006). From February to November room occupancy in Cambridge averages 75%.
Self-catering does not make a significant contribution to accommodation available. In 2007 there were approximately 55 units in Cambridge and the surrounding area. This figure has risen by 27 units since 1999.
The Visitor Information Centre can provide details on 'Where to Stay in Cambridge'.
Conferences
Cambridge is an important place for conferences. The average conference is attended by approximately 70 delegates, this not only adds to the economy of the city but encourages delegates to return at a later date as leisure tourists.
Cambridge is easily accessible by road and rail and Stansted airport is only 30 miles away.
National trends indicate that conference organisers consider location, access, transport and price as important factors in deciding upon a destination. Nationally the most popular venues are city centre hotels, conference/training centres and unusual venues, which total 91% of all conferences booked according to the BACD venues survey. 62% of these conferences lasted 4 hours to a day and 20% were 2 days and the most popular type of conference was for between 8-20 delegates, 66% of conferences were hosted for 50 delegates or less.
visitcambridge offers a comprehensive venue finding service, known as destinationcambridge. destinationcambridge works with approximately 100 venues from colleges, hotels, training centres and unusual venues. The service covers the surrounding area as well as the city centre and they consistently deal with over 100 bookings a year.
Visitor Profile
Regular surveys have been carried out of visitors to the Visitor Information Centre for many years. The results below are from the 2007 Visitor Information Survey and the 2007 VisitCambridge Accommodation Guide Survey.
The full results, including comparisons between day and staying visitors, UK and overseas visitors and comparisons with previous surveys are available from the Environment & Planning Reception price £10 plus postage.
Tel (Planning Reception): 01223 457200 or 01223 457201
Email: planning@cambridge.gov.uk
Where do visitors come from?
80% of the visitors were from the UK. Of those from abroad, 21% were from Central Europe and 7% from North America.
How long do they stay?
65% were staying visitors. Of these 58% stayed for 1 or 2 nights.
Where did they stay?
42% stayed in guest houses and bed and breakfast accommodation and 49% in hotels. 4% of those surveyed stayed in self-catering accommodation. The rest either stayed with friends and relatives, in colleges or at campsites.
Reasons for Visiting?
The most popular reason for visiting Cambridge was for heritage and museums (28%) followed by shopping (16%), visiting parks & gardens (15%) and eating out (10%).
How did they get here?Over half of all visitors arrived by car, and 25% by train. Nine percent of people travelled to Cambridge by service bus.
What did they think of the Visitor Information Centre?
80% of people surveyed rated the VIC as good or very good, 13% rated the VIC as satisfactory. The top four reasons for visiting the VIC were as follows: general information (32%), map/directions (19%), information on the surrounding areas (14%) and guided tours (11%)Sources & Further Information
British Association of Conference Destinations (BACD)
Cambridge City Council Tourism Strategy 2001
East of England Tourism - The methodology and accuracy of the EETB surveys and sources varies. The results of the model should therefore be regarded as estimates, which are indicative of the scale and importance of visitor activity in the local area. It is important to note that in the national tourism surveys the sample sizes for each area changes year on year. This is as a result of the random probability nature of the methodology. As such, the results of the Cambridge Model are best viewed as a snapshot in time and we would caution against year-on-year comparisons. The Occupancy surveys are also survey based, therefore caution must also be exercised when using these figures.
StarUK - Statistics on Tourism & Research