Demand for the region’s accommodation and attractions

Welcome to Yorkshire has worked in partnership with Vypr, an online intelligence platform, to understand the customer sentiment for tourism in a post-Covid world, following the clarity of the proposed route out of lockdown. The platform has tracked consumer sentiment for holidaying in Yorkshire post-Christmas 2020 and after the announcement of the roadmap out of restrictions.

Vypr gives businesses insightful consumer data, enabling them to make more informed decisions. The key findings reveal that Yorkshire is the second most popular planned destination for a holiday this year, with interest in self-catering accommodation rising 65% since the roadmap has been published.

The survey results indicate that 1 in 4 residents in Yorkshire are looking to visit tourist attractions within a month of restrictions being lifted, and over 50% of all visitors who plan to visit the region intend to visit a tourist attraction, with weekend breaks proving just as important as longer holiday breaks.

James Mackenzie, director of strategic delivery at Welcome to Yorkshire comments, “We believe that family units are looking to minimise risk by staying in self-catering accommodation, however hotels and B&Bs are equally as popular for Yorkshire holidays. Analysing the interest in attractions in Yorkshire, there is a clear indication of hyperlocal tourism predicted, as people intend to rediscover the local area after being through lockdown. This is further enhanced when we see 1 in 2 residents will begin to visit tourist attractions within 3 months of leaving lockdown. We need to make sure our members are marketing to local tourism, as well as visitors from outside of the region.”

Drilling deeper, the survey also reveals the key influencing factors into choosing attractions are open space (31.9%), promotions (25.5%), control on numbers (24.5%) and ability to secure refunds (21.1%). Over 50% of visitors will be in parties of 3 or more people.

The full survey has been published on Welcome to Yorkshire’s industry website, where the organisation’s members can analyse the results, helping them to best prepare and communicate with future visitors to Yorkshire.

James Mackenzie adds, “As a Destination Management Organisation, we can see the need to market the region for city breaks as well as family holidays, and we will work with members to leverage these opportunities.

“We’re encouraging businesses to make sure they have COVID-19 secure certification through the VisitBritain/VisitEngland 'We're Good to Go' Industry Standard, as well as making sure clear communication to potential visitors on space and capacity is essential. The results also tell us that public transport will still be important, with almost a third of visitors (29.2%) intending to use trains, buses and coaches to travel to Yorkshire this year. It’s therefore vital that all tourism businesses are clear to customers about the public transport options for their location.”

In addition to travellers, the survey reveals a significant proportion of Yorkshire residents (27.5%) who are not planning to go on holiday this year, indicating a real opportunity to engage those in the county in day trips and local tourism. Welcome to Yorkshire are confident that when restrictions are lifted the demand will surge for the great accommodation options and attractions the region has to offer. Instilling customer confidence remains to be a continued priority for Yorkshire-based businesses talking about customer Covid safety measures to reassure people as we move out of lockdown.

Vypr combines research into behavioural science with a well-segmented and proprietary consumer panel of over 75,000 mobile app users. This allows the platform to deliver robust, predictive consumer intelligence in real-time and puts the client in full control, enabling them to discover anything about their prospective customers.

Vypr Founder, Ben Davies comments, “We have recently partnered with Welcome To Yorkshire on a number of projects that we believe will help to pave the way in accelerating the economic recovery of its members. Vypr was set up to put customer-centric insight at the forefront of an organisations’ decision-making. Arguably, this has never been more critical, and I believe that organisations that take the time to listen well to their customers and adjust or evolve as required, will have the best chance of succeeding. And will do so a lot faster. Vypr can help.”