2022 Coastal Tourism Business Survey Results

The NCTA have been surveying businesses around the coast to help assess and understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on coastal tourism businesses in England. The survey will be repeated in different waves throughout 2022, the results of which will be published on this page.

NCTA Business Survey 2022 Wave 3 - Late Summer
(survey was live between September - October 2022)

Download the Wave 3 Results here

Headlines results:

• 67% of businesses are back to profitability (up from 46% in previous wave).
• 19% estimate it will be more than 12 months before they are profitable
• Summer trading was a mixed picture with 28% of businesses saying summer trading in 2022 was better than last year and 44% of businesses saying trading compared to last summer was worse.
• Confidence has continued to drop since the previous wave, with the majority now not confident about the next 6 months of trading (42%).Offset by 24.3% who are very or somewhat confident.
• Forward bookings are lower than the same point last year, with many businesses reporting capacity still available over the autumn and winter.
• The vast majority ofbusinesses agree that demand is very unpredictable this year and consumers are booking much closer to departure.
• Poor economic climate is the biggest external impact affecting businesses, followed by rising energy and fuel costs, increasing supplier costs, the seasonality of the destination and increasing staffing costs.
• 48% of businesses have increased prices and42%ofbusinesses are either closing for the winter or reducing the days of the week they are open for the winter period.
• A number ofbusinesses have seen an increase in European and other international visitors this summer, but business and conference visitorsremain low
• Almost all businesses say reducing costs is very or somewhat important to them at the present time (97%) but positively 82% of businesses are still focused on improving sustainability

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NCTA Business Survey 2022 Wave 2 - Early Summer
(survey was live between May - June 2022)

Download the Wave 2 Results here

Headline results:

• 46% of businesses are back to profitability (up from 37% in previous wave)
• 28.3% estimate it will be more than 12 months before they are profitable (up 6pts since the last wave)
• Trading position has improved compared to 2019 for 24% of businesses.However, 41% are still reporting worse results than in 2019.
• Confidence has dropped since the previous wave, only 58% somewhat confident about trading over next 6 months (down from 74% in previous wave) and 20% are not confident (an increase from 11% in Spring 2022)
• Forward bookings are lower than the same point last year, with many businesses reporting capacity still available over the summer.
• The vast majority ofbusinesses agree that demand is very unpredictable this year and consumers are booking much closer to departure.
• Half of businesses that employ staff are still experiencing issues with recruitment
• Poor economic climate is the biggest external impact affecting businesses, followed by rising energy and fuel costs.Competition from overseas holidays has also risen into the top 5 issues for the first time since the start of the covid pandemic.
• 65% of businesses have increased prices this year.
• 47% of businesses are cutting costs including delaying planned investment.
• Two thirds of businesses would like a reduction of VAT on energy bills to help their business trade and recover from covid-19.

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NCTA Business Survey 2022 Wave 1 - Spring
(survey was live between February –March 2022)

Download the Wave 1 Results here

Headline results:

• 37% of businesses are back to profitability (down from 47% in previous wave), 22% estimate it will be more than 12 months before they are profitable (much lower than 39% in last wave)
• Trading position has improved compared to 2019 for 35% of businesses.However, 44% are still reporting worse results than in 2019.
• The majority (74%) are at least somewhat confident about trading over the next 6 months.11% are not confident but this is a significant improvement on the position in Autumn 2021 when 43% were not confident about the next few months
• Businesses expect the Staycation boom to be the most significant opportunity in 2022 (mentioned by 43% as most likely to benefit).Other notedopportunitiesare increase in year-round coastal breaks, personal celebration events, return of some international visitors and return of business events
• The majority (more than 80%) are interested in being involved in Year of the Coast 2023 with creating new events and experiences the most popular way of getting involved
• Compared to the autumn, there is a notable change in key external factors impacting business (when seasonality was main consideration)65% feel that increasing energy and fuel costs is their main concern and 59% have already seen increased gas and energy prices.In response, nearly two thirds are expecting to increase prices
• Investment levels during the winter were slightly lower than usual pre-pandemic levels and notably lower than 2020-21 winterperiodwith24%ofbusinesses (versus 10% in 2020-21) not investing anything this year.
• Most businesses are focussing on UK Stay visitors this summer with strong interest in new markets of walkers, cyclists, nature and heritage
• 40% of businesses who employ staff are still finding it difficult to recruit certain roles including chefs, waiting staff andmaintenance