Value of tourism in Lincolnshire reaches £971 million – 14% of the overall economy

Newly published research shows the value of tourism within Lincolnshire’s visitor economy last year was worth £971 million – an increase of £13 million (1.3%) compared with 2008- and contributes 14% to the county’s overall economy, second only to the food industry.

The total number of seaside and attraction related tourist visits to Lincolnshire increased by 200,000 to 17.2 million creating 349 new jobs.Visit Lincolnshire, who has released these results in partnership with East Midlands Tourism, is the organisation that champions tourism and the wider visitor economy across the county with support from local authorities, tourism businesses and other stakeholders.

Marc Etches, Interim Chief Executive of Visit Lincolnshire said “This is good news. Our marketing campaigns promoting Lincolnshire as a place to visit have delivered excellent results earning £44 for every pound spent. More than 17,000 jobs depend on holiday and attraction related tourism across Lincolnshire and it is vital that we all recognise the economic value of this industry sector.”

Last year Lincolnshire Tourism rebranded itself as Visit Lincolnshire and relaunched the website VisitLincolnshire.com. In addition, the organisation improved the quality of the county’s flagship visitor guides; launched online booking opportunities for businesses; generated extensive national and regional PR and launched Visit Lincolnshire’s social media activity.

The research shows that Lincolnshire’s most significant visitor spend is on shopping (22%) (grown to £210 million from £202 million) and food and drink (18%) (grown to £173 million in 2009 from £165 million in 2008).

The largest increase in visitor spend is in recreational activities an increase of 9% from the previous year.

“The growth in visitor spend on shopping, food and drink and other recreational activities outline the importance of recognising that traditional tourism is one element of the wider visitor economy which includes business and education related tourism as well as events, sports, cultural and other leisure activity,” continued Marc Etches.

“Local knowledge is a vital ingredient to future success not least because 34% of overnight stays in Lincolnshire were in the homes of friends or relatives.”

“Despite this success we must not be complacent; there is still a need to keep Lincolnshire fresh and competitive against other destinations. Since 2009 we’ve upped our game and we’re looking forward to exceeding these figures next year by continuing to work closely with our members and partners.”

Cllr Eddy Poll, Executive Councilor for Cultural Services at Lincolnshire County Council said: 'The County Council has always placed great importance on the value of tourism to Lincolnshire, and this news is very encouraging. Our commitment to tourism and our drive to get the best out of our attractions has obviously succeeded and we hope that even more people will visit in the future to enjoy our beautiful county.'

Notes to Editors: For more information please contact Charlotte Goy, Media Executive for Visit Lincolnshire on 01522 561670 or charlotte@visitlincolnshire.com

Visit Lincolnshire is the organisation set up to market Lincolnshire as a visitor destination. It was formally known as Lincolnshire Tourism.

Visit Lincolnshire works in partnership with VisitBritain, East Midlands Tourism, Lincolnshire County Council, all local district authorities, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Councils, plus all tourism businesses.

The latest estimate of people working in Lincolnshire in 2009 is 316,400 people, this relates to 73% of the working age population, 5.4% of which are tourism jobs. (Lincolnshire Research Observatory)

Research published by Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) reports that the Lincolnshire Coast has 8,900 year-round jobs directly supported by seaside tourism – the eighth highest for any county in England.

The research which was commissioned by East Midlands Tourism, East Midlands Development Agency’s tourism arm, also shows the estimated number of tourist visits to the region, including both day and overnight visits, rose by 320,000 to 141.7 million in 2009.

The research was conducted by Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) and in the sixth major consecutive study into the economic impact of tourism at a regional and county level and is based on 2009 data.

Key findings

• 2.02 million overnight-staying tourists visited Lincolnshire in 2009, spending 9.53 million nights in commercial tourist accommodation, both serviced and non-serviced.


• 1.06 million visitors stayed some 2.51 million nights with friends and relative (SFR) in Lincolnshire.


• Overnight visitors spent £562.03 million in Lincolnshire with day visitors spending a further £409.61 million.


• The temporary 2.5% reduction in the standard VAT rate had an impact on the total amount of VAT paid by visitors on tourism-related goods and services. The amount of VAT generated by tourism activity declined by 11% to £94.5 million.


• Approximately 13,905 jobs (full time equivalents) were directly supported by tourist expenditure in Lincolnshire and a further 3,270 jobs were supported by indirect revenue from tourism.


• Average expenditures per day per tourist category are as follows: serviced (i.e. hotels and B&Bs): £92.44; non-serviced (i.e. self-catering): £41.51; SFR: £38.11; and, day visitors: £28.87.


• Day visitors coming to Lincolnshire account for 42 % of the total tourism revenue. Seasonality also influenced the number of day visitors that Lincolnshire received, rising from a low of 567,200 visitors in December to a peak of 2.65 million in August.


• Although the number of sleeping spaces in serviced accommodation remained at 13,451 throughout the calendar year, there was a significant variance though in the number of maximum non-serviced sleeping spaces available from a low of 27,288 in January to a peak of 61,103 in July and August.