2017 saw a record-breaking year for the Home of Horseracing with Newmarket welcoming over 1.6 million visitors, which boosted the economic value of tourism in the town by 6% to a total in excess of £73 million.
Statistics from Discover Newmarket, the tourism hub and official tour guide for the town, show that figures for overnight and day trips to the town have risen from 2016 by 7.8%, and that the overall value of tourism to the town increased by more than £4.2m in the space of one year.
The number of day trips to the town increased by 7.3% from 2016, up to 1,651,000, and overnight trips to the town also increased by 8.3%, seeing 39,000 trips taken in 2017.
The visitor spend from these trips hit a high of £61.8m and helped to grow tourist related employment in the town to 1,363, an increase of 6%.
Newmarket’s unique offering as the Home of Horseracing in the UK, gives visitors an experience unlike any other town when visiting. With a host of tours designed to give you the opportunity to meet the organisations, trainers and the staff behind champion racehorses, as well as give you the opportunity to see equine stars at work, Discover Newmarket is leading the way for tourism in the town which is known as Horseracing’s HQ.
Noel Byrne, Chairman of Discover Newmarket and Chief Executive of The Bedford Lodge Hotel and Spa:
“This fantastic result for Newmarket truly showcases the profile that the town has achieved as a destination. I’m sure I echo the businesses and the community of Newmarket’s thoughts when I say that we look forward to seeing this growth continue in the future.”
Discover Newmarket consistently looks to increase its offering to the local community as well as those visiting from further afield, and in 2017 added a number of new tours to help bolster its offering, including The Cheveley Park Stud Tour, the one-off Enable Tour and a John Gosden and Golden Horn Tour.
In June of 2018, to celebrate the new daily direct flight from Dubai into London Stansted Airport, Discover Newmarket helped to bolster relationships and promote Newmarket to the Middle East by hosting a familiarisation trip for 16 Global Travel Leaders to the town. The tourism hub for Horseracing HQ has also been working with the Discover England Fund for its Horseracing – The Sport of Kings campaign, which looks at promoting luxury sporting breaks, horseracing and heritage to target audiences in the U.A.E. Discover Newmarket will continue to target international audiences into 2019 and evolve its tour offering for future visitors to the town.
Megan Pollexfen, Manager of Discover Newmarket, said:
“It’s encouraging to see that tourism is greatly contributing to the economy in the town, having risen so much in 2017. There is already so much in Newmarket to engage and entice the regional community as well as national and international audiences, but we are working hard to boost this for the future to generate further economic growth.
“The increase in visitor spend within the town is a strong tool which we are working hard with businesses and attractions in the town to utilise for reinvestment into Newmarket.
“As we’re coming towards the end of 2018, we’re confident that visitor numbers will have risen this year, and we already have a number of plans in place to help increase the proposition of the town for 2019. At Discover Newmarket, we implemented a new tour for 2018, the Shadwell Tour, and we evolved one of our very special tours, the Frankel Tour with the assistance of Lady Jane Cecil, who kindly led our Frankel Tours in 2018.
“We can only see the numbers growing in the future and the results of this for the town, as well as the community which surrounds it, are nothing but positive.”
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