ESSENTIAL TRENDS BID MARKET INTELLIGENCE ISSUE 66 MARCH Princes Street, Edinburgh

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1 ESSENTIAL TRENDS BID MARKET INTELLIGENCE ISSUE 66 MARCH 2016 Princes Street, Edinburgh

2 Introduction Welcome to this month s edition of Essential Trends which is again filled with vital information for everyone with an interest in how our city centre is performing. Although sales fell in comparison to February last year, hotel occupancy, and footfall rose on the same period from This month s edition brings plenty of mixed news about how the capital city performed in February. Footfall figures increased compared to January 2016 and February 2015, and did much better than the UK. This, however, did not reflect in the retail sales or hospitality sales which both dropped. Hotel occupancy and revenue continue to rise, and both were higher than the previous two years. The information contained in this report is reliant on our city centre partners reporting monthly figures to us and can I take this opportunity on thanking them for providing this vital information. Roddy Smith Chief Executive Contents Hotel Occupancy Page 3 Footfall Page 5 Sales Monitors Page 13 Parking Page 15 Convention Bureau Page 18 Edinburgh Airport Page 20

3 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 3 Edinburgh Hotels Data for February 2016 The latest available data for February 2016 from STR Global shows that 71.4 percent of rooms were occupied in Edinburgh during the month. The average daily rate for rooms sold was whilst the revenue averaged across all available rooms was This is based on a sample of 101 hotels totalling 10,653 rooms in Edinburgh. The latest data for February 2016 shows that both occupancy and revenue per room was higher than the last two years. The occupancy rate in February 2016 was 71.4%, in 2015 was 70.7%, and in 2014 was 69.7%. Revenue per available room increased in cash terms by 3.6% on last year from to Looking at the year from April 2015 to February 2016 Edinburgh has had consistently higher occupancy figures than the comparator cities.

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5 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 5 Edinburgh footfall index Edinburgh footfall figures for February 2016 are up by 3.9% compared to February 2015, and up by 8.9% compared to January This is higher than the UK average which increased by 0.6% compared to last month and decreased year on year by -2.7%. Princes Street at Marks & Spencer s was the busiest spot in the city centre with 900,310 people counted during February 2016, the last month in which figures are available. This represents a very small decrease of 3.0% on February Monthly pedestrian numbers in the city centre follow an annual trend. They increase to their highest level of the year in August and fall to the lowest monthly totals during January and February before starting to increase again over spring and into the summer months. Footfall on Princes Street increased by 3.2% between January and February 2016, this was higher than the same change witnessed last year which saw footfall on Princes Street decline by 0.3% between January and February The tables below show footfall in the City Centre and a breakdown by counter area. The daily information for the previous month is also presented in the charts.

6 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 6 The UK footfall Index shows an increase of 0.6% between January and February 2016, and decreased by 2.7% compared to February Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: This slow growth reflects the increasing pressure the industry is under, as highlighted in our recent Retail 2020 report. With the Budget due this month, we encourage the Government to address the cumulative burden that retailers face - enabling growth and protecting jobs and communities.

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10 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 10 Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area In February 2016 annual comparable footfall was up 5.8% in the city centre on last year, with a higher increase in footfall during the evening period. Compared to last year footfall has shown an overall increase in February This hides some variation which we can see by breaking the day down into three periods: morning; core retail hours; and evening hours. The most noticeable change in February was the 9.6% increase in the evening hours. The core retail period this was only 4.9% higher than last year, and the early morning period increased by 7.5%. The following charts shows the change in footfall over four different three hour periods. Around nine out of every ten visitors (89.5%) in the city centre are recorded over this 12 hour period. The largest change in footfall in the city centre compared to last year occurred

11 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 11 in the evening period after 5pm where footfall increased by 7.8%. The change this February compared to last year shows an increase in footfall numbers across all four hour interval periods. In the time period after 8 a.m. footfall increased by 5.3%, between 11am and 2pm footfall increased by 3.9%. The after 2pm time period increased by 4.9% compared to last year and the largest increase occurred in the after 5pm time period, as mentioned above. Note: BID area annual comparison includes counter locations: FCUK Frederick Street; Jenners Rose Street; M&S Princes Street; Natwest George Street; Tiso Rose Street; and South St Andrew Street.

12 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 12 Day and night time pedestrian traffic in the Essential Edinburgh BID area cont...

13 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 13 Sales Monitors for January 2016 Edinburgh retail sales were down -3.3% in February 2016 compared to this month in This means that Edinburgh s retailers performed worse than both their peers elsewhere in Scotland and the rest of the UK as the Scottish average fell by only -0.7% on a year earlier; in the entire UK sales were up 1.1%. Retailers participating in the Retail Monitoring Programme reported these figures for February The figures for Edinburgh are based on a sample of city centre retailers. An almost equal share of retailers taking part reported positive and negative figures. However, some bigger department stores were trading worse than average and, hence, pulled down the average (The average figures we report on are weighted considering a participating retailer s floorspace). The negative figure is despite the fact that February 2016 had one extra day the 29th of February; Next month, for March 2016, we hope that the earlier Mothers Day and Easter brings a more positive outcome. Some retailers noted that footfall in their area was down significantly on last year. The figures for Scotland and the UK were reported from the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor and the BRC Scottish Retail Sales Monitor. Hospitality businesses that take part in the Hospitality Monitoring Programme reported a decrease in sales of -0.4%. David McCorquodale, Head of Retail at KPMG, commenting on the Scottish figures said: : Following a challenging January, there is a sense

14 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 14 of improvement in Scotland s retail sales figures this month, giving retailers some confidence that Scottish consumers are reacting to the normal operating levers. Although the weather didn t relent for much of February, successful seasonal campaigns helped lift the gloom for many retailers. The headline figures may be negative but closer scrutiny gives cause for optimism The grocery sector continued to build momentum to its long haul out of the doldrums and a deflation-adjusted decline in total food sales of only 0.6% is the best non-christmas or Easter performance for some 25 months. Helen Dickinson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium, commenting on the UK total sales figures said: : Competition remained strong in the grocery sector, while consumers proved willing to spend money on large ticket items, namely furniture, driving the month s performance. You are sent this information before publication in Essential Trends if you agree to participate in the City Centre Monitoring Project. For more information about how to participate in the Tunover Monitoring Project please contact Tom Mathar, Research Manager at LJ Research, who manage this project on our behalf: Tom@ ljresearch.co.uk or

15 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 15 Parking Index: data 2016 Parking is important for businesses in the city centre and the information below shows the number of times and length of time each parking bay is used during the chargeable period. The higher the turnover of paid parking spaces the more opportunities for shoppers to find a space. In the New Town there are 959 bays in zones 1A and 2, which covers the Essential Edinburgh BID area. It should be noted that the average daily number of transactions per bay during trading hours and the average length of time parked are derived from transactions at parking ticket machines, the number of which varies throughout the year. The relatively low number of daily transactions per bay is likely to be due to the usage of the bays by holders of resident s parking permits. In the New Town over February 2016, the average turnover of parking spaces per day was 1.8. This compares to 2.0 in the Old Town, 1.5 in the West End and 1.9 in the East End. Parking utilisation Shoppers looking to park their car are more likely to find a space in the streets that are less utilised. It is clear that George Street had the highest levels of utilisation. This means that the parking bays were used much more than the average of the bays in other streets. Thistle

16 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 16 This table reflects the levels of usage of parking bays during the times when parking charges are levied (Monday Saturday 8:30 am 5:30pm in areas with lower parking ticket sales and 8:30am 6:30pm in areas with higher ticket sales. Street, Little King Street, North Castle Street, and West Register Street are all used more than average for parking. The other streets are used less than average for parking with Glenfinlas Street having the lowest utilisation of paid parking spaces within the New Town. For real time information on utilisation rates in off-street car parks follow this link:

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18 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 18 Edinburgh s Conferences Marketing Edinburgh is the organisation dedicated to promoting Edinburgh to the world, and encompasses a Convention Bureau and Film Office. Business Tourism Business Tourism is vital to the economy of the city and delivers significant financial benefits for the city. It also positions the city positively in key industry sectors, brings global expertise into the community and provides a platform for future investment. Convention Edinburgh was named a finalist in business tourism s biggest and most prestigious annual awards ceremony, the M&IT Awards for the second year running. Organised by Meeting & Incentive Travel (M&IT) Magazine, Convention Edinburgh was shortlisted for UK s Best Convention Bureau, having been nominated clients and event organisers from across Britain s conference and events industry. From April 2015 to February 2016, Convention Edinburgh alongside its members has confirmed 147 conferences, attracting just over 65,000 delegates to the city between 2015 and 2021 with an economic benefit of over 75.6M. Over the last two months (January and February 16) Convention Edinburgh has secured 26 new conferences with a combined economic benefit of just under 12.5M. In January 2016 Convention Edinburgh hosted an Association familiarisation trip bringing 12 association buyers to the city to showcase the different facilities available in the city for conferences. The weekend included site visits and a Burns Supper hosted by the EICC. In March Convention Edinburgh hosted its Destination Edinburgh Workshop bringing 17 conference agents to the city over 2 days. The programme included an afternoon s workshop enabling the buyers to meet 15 different suppliers followed by a day of site visits to key venues and hotels. The workshop was hosted by Edinburgh Zoo. In April Convention Edinburgh will host the Annual Council Meeting of IAPCO ( the International Association of Professional Conference Organisers ) and co host with VisitScotland the International Special Events Society a group of 30 event planners from North America. info@filmedinburgh.org Tel

19 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 19 Upcoming Conferences Conferences which will take place during April, May and June 2016 have a combined value of over 31.4M and will attract over 16,500 delegates. These include: Confirmed Conferences April 2016, Fossil, Insect and Amber Conference, 150 delegates 29 April - 2 May 2016, Insomnia Gaming Scotland, 750 delegates May 2016, Independent Schools Bursars Association Annual Conference, 400 delegates May 2016, Edinburgh Corporate Finance Conference 2016, 70 delegates May 2016, Hazards 26, 400 delegates May 2016, Association for Continence Advice Annual Conference, 400 delegates May 2016, International Conference on Agile Software Development, 330 delegates May 2016, European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products - ECRD, 800 delegates 31 May - 2 June 2016, IoA Risk & Management Conference, 500 delegates

20 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 20 FEBRUARY PASSENGER NUMBERS: 30.4% INTERNATIONAL GROWTH Edinburgh Airport has today announced February s passenger numbers showing 770,265 people passed through the airport last month, making it the busiest February ever. In terms of international passenger numbers this represents a 30.4% increase from February last year. Welcoming February s passenger figures Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport s Chief Executive, said: February s passenger numbers have broken another monthly record and act as further indication of just how big Edinburgh Airport s global ambitions are. We have seen a massive increase of 30.4% in the number of international passengers and this highlights the growing draw of Edinburgh as a prime global destination. And as we grow we deliver greater international links for this city and for Scotland. Edinburgh Airport and our partner airlines are continuing to offer greater choice with more routes and more destinations and passengers are responding by flying in and out of Edinburgh directly in greater numbers than ever before. People ask me how much more Edinburgh Airport can grow in a country with little over five million people; it is not the five million I am worried about - but how the other seven billion across the globe get to visit us. Increase in International Passengers was due largely to the following; Ryanair flights to Dublin had higher seat factors than last year. Copenhagen service was new in November 2015.

21 ESSENTIAL TRENDS PAGE 21 Services to Santander and Frankfurt-Hahn operated as summer only routes last year, this winter they were full year services. EasyJet s new Stuttgart (launched in Nov 15), Vienna and Venice services (launched Feb 16) boosted passenger numbers. More passengers travelled to Amsterdam, Madrid, Prague, Basel and Geneva. Last February Qatar Airways operated Edinburgh- Doha 5 times a week, it now flies daily. Etihad did not operate in February 2015, it is flying 5 times per week this winter. New routes launched since last year which boosted passenger numbers include Iberia Express to Madrid, Norwegian to Malaga and Tenerife and Etihad s service to Abu Dhabi. Jet2.com launched Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote in February. These are all new from Jet2 from Edinburgh and are the first of the 12 new routes they launch from EDI this year. More information from: Gordon Robertson, Director of Communications or gordon_robertson@edinburghairport.com

22 ESSENTIAL TRENDS To contact Essential Edinburgh: 139 George Street Edinburgh, EH2 4JY t: +44 (0) e: Essential Edinburgh. To contact the City of Edinburgh Council t: +44 (0) e: