Festive events make it a merry Christmas for traders
Footfall and feedback have combined to make this a Christmas to remember for businesses operating in Hull city centre.
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said footfall figures show the programme of Christmas activities attracted more people into the city centre.
She added that surveys of retailers after some of the big events generated positive feedback and demand for more events in the future.
Kathryn revealed that footfall figures for Hull city centre on Saturday December 13 were up by nearly 10 per cent on the previous week as crowds chose local shops over out-of-town options and also enjoyed a Christmas market of 30 stalls featuring live reindeer provided by the Hull Daily Mail, a choir and the return of the family of elves.
In King Edward Street, where the festive attractions were based, the footfall figure was 38,887, up from 29,840 on December 6. The overall figure for December 13 throughout the city centre was 183,226 compared with 166,929 the previous Saturday.
Kathryn also highlighted the success of other attractions in the city centre in the build-up to Christmas, including the Victorian Christmas event organised by HUllBID, Hull Museums, Heritage Learning and Trinity Open Market on Saturday November 29 Sunday and the Princes Quay Santa parade, which covered an extended route on Sunday November 16 as a result of investment by HullBID.
Kathryn said: “The footfall figures for the main route of the parade showed 19,644 people in King Edward Street compared with 11,786 the previous Sunday and 12,980 on the Sunday after the parade. In Prospect Street the total was 11,790 compared with 9,124 the previous Sunday and 7,702 the following week.
“The crowd for Victorian Christmas was estimated at 15,000 after taking into account footfall figures, the number of visitors to the Museums Quarter and the number of people who used such transport services as the vintage bus and the land train. That compares with an attendance of about 10,000 at the previous year’s event and it shows that Victorian Christmas is one of the biggest festive attractions.”
Surveys of city centre businesses after the Victorian Christmas and the elves event also produced positive feedback, with all of them reporting an increase in business and revenue and some seeing takings rise by 75 per cent.
Responses included calls for more events, or for some of the one-off events to be expanded over two days. Businesses also suggested bringing in more events with Trinity Open Market, which featured traders from around the Hull area and which promoted other city centre businesses.
Kathryn said: “Our aim this Christmas was to support the existing programme of events by investing funds to expand and promote them and the feedback suggests we were right to do that.
“The footfall figures show big increases and the responses from businesses indicate that translated into more sales. The demand is for more of the same in future, and that response demonstrates how we and our partners are on the right track by organising high quality, free events to attract people into Hull city centre.”
Festive events make it a merry Christmas for traders
Footfall and feedback have combined to make this a Christmas to remember for businesses operating in Hull city centre.
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said footfall figures show the programme of Christmas activities attracted more people into the city centre.
She added that surveys of retailers after some of the big events generated positive feedback and demand for more events in the future.
Kathryn revealed that footfall figures for Hull city centre on Saturday December 13 were up by nearly 10 per cent on the previous week as crowds chose local shops over out-of-town options and also enjoyed a Christmas market of 30 stalls featuring live reindeer provided by the Hull Daily Mail, a choir and the return of the family of elves.
In King Edward Street, where the festive attractions were based, the footfall figure was 38,887, up from 29,840 on December 6. The overall figure for December 13 throughout the city centre was 183,226 compared with 166,929 the previous Saturday.
Kathryn also highlighted the success of other attractions in the city centre in the build-up to Christmas, including the Victorian Christmas event organised by HUllBID, Hull Museums, Heritage Learning and Trinity Open Market on Saturday November 29 Sunday and the Princes Quay Santa parade, which covered an extended route on Sunday November 16 as a result of investment by HullBID.
Kathryn said: “The footfall figures for the main route of the parade showed 19,644 people in King Edward Street compared with 11,786 the previous Sunday and 12,980 on the Sunday after the parade. In Prospect Street the total was 11,790 compared with 9,124 the previous Sunday and 7,702 the following week.
“The crowd for Victorian Christmas was estimated at 15,000 after taking into account footfall figures, the number of visitors to the Museums Quarter and the number of people who used such transport services as the vintage bus and the land train. That compares with an attendance of about 10,000 at the previous year’s event and it shows that Victorian Christmas is one of the biggest festive attractions.”
Surveys of city centre businesses after the Victorian Christmas and the elves event also produced positive feedback, with all of them reporting an increase in business and revenue and some seeing takings rise by 75 per cent.
Responses included calls for more events, or for some of the one-off events to be expanded over two days. Businesses also suggested bringing in more events with Trinity Open Market, which featured traders from around the Hull area and which promoted other city centre businesses.
Kathryn said: “Our aim this Christmas was to support the existing programme of events by investing funds to expand and promote them and the feedback suggests we were right to do that.
“The footfall figures show big increases and the responses from businesses indicate that translated into more sales. The demand is for more of the same in future, and that response demonstrates how we and our partners are on the right track by organising high quality, free events to attract people into Hull city centre.”
