City Centre Insights February 2023

Our monthly report offers a range of insights on the performance of York city centre. Click HERE to read the report for February 2023.

Footfall

During February 2023, data provided by O2 indicates that total footfall levels in York city centre increase by 9% compared to January and were only down by 1% when compared to 2022. The highest footfall levels were seen during the first weekend in the month which coincided with the York Ice Trail. Please note that due a power outage, footfall data was not recorded between 15th & 17th February.

Visitor Demographics

Visitor demographics were overall consistent with the previous month, however we can observe a slight increase in the proportion of visitors who visit on a single occasion, and proportion of visitors with high and very-high spend power.

50% of total visits were made by ‘locals’ with home locations based within a 10km radius of the city centre, which is a 10% decrease on the previous month. 31% of total visitor traveled from 50km away or more which is a 9% increase from the previous month. Note that figures do not reflect visits from oversees.

Spend

Quarterly data provided by VISA (for October to December 2022), shows an 8.5% increase in spend via merchant transactions during December 2022 when compared to the previous year. On average, spend during December was up by 30% compared to October and November.

Throughout 2022, restaurants received the lion’s share spend, averaging 46% of all VISA card transactions in any given month. During December, both restaurants and hotels incurred their highest spend levels witnessed during 2022. On average, spend in retail and high street businesses was 55% higher during December 2022 than October and November.

On average, visitors travelling to the city centre from 30km or more spent 2.6% more per visit than those within the 30km radius in any given month.

VISA data is made available to us quarterly. Spend insights for Quarter 1 2023 will be made available as part of the April 2023 report.

To see our previous reports please visit our Insights & Trends page.

If you have any questions regarding the data, you are welcome to contact a member of the BID Team at info@theyorkbid.com