Lancaster district continues to prove appealing to visitors
Recently released end of year figures reveal how much information is now being requested from Lancaster City Council’s tourism staff.
Recently released end of year figures reveal how much information is now being requested about the Lancaster district.
In addition to enquiries at the Visitor Information Centres, over the telephone and by email, the use of the internet is increasing and Lancaster City Council’s www.citycoastcountryside.co.uk website now gets an average of 20,000 unique visits every month.
In total the site had 15.3 million hits and 181,149 unique visits in 2008, compared to 7.8 million hits and 124,600 unique visits in 2007. This shows an increase of 46% in unique visits and a doubling in the number of hits in just one year.
In addition, the Visitor Information Centres handled 184,000 enquiries from the public during 2008, including visitors and local residents. This compares with 180,000 in 2007, an increase of 2.3% during a year of generally poor weather and economic problems.
Coun Shirley Burns, Cabinet member with responsibility for tourism, said: “These figures show that the Lancaster district continues to be a place that people want to visit.
“Visitor spending in this district is now over £260 million and looks likely to grow.
“The signs are that more people will be wanting to holiday in the UK this year and our district is well placed to be top of their list when choosing a destination.”
The Lancaster district continues to be particularly popular with overseas visitors. Of those who signed the visitor book in Lancaster TIC, 18% came from Canada, 16% from the USA and 11% from Australia. Significant numbers also came from New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Some visitors came from as far away as Belarus, Brazil and China.
Recently tourism staff have had to use their language skills in dealing with overseas visitors in Greek, French, Spanish and German.
Customer care was the top of the agenda for a family from France who rang Lancaster Tourist Information Centre wishing to find accommodation during a visit to see their son who studies at the University of Cumbria.
The family from Rennes in France spoke no English and the enquiry and booking had to be undertaken only in French – one of our Visitor Information Assistants, Nicola Holmes-Korikis, speaks French and with a little help from a translation book managed to secure the family a stay in an apartment on Castle Hill.
Date Updated: 19/03/09