XX Commonwealth Games Visitor Study: Visitor Survey Results Report

8. Staying Overnight in Scotland

8.1 This section provides further details on visits to the Games which involved at least one night away from home. Key findings include:

• 37% of visitors (around 250,000 unique visitors) stayed away from home during their trip, each spending an average of 6.8 days in Scotland.
• These visitors spent an average of £125 per day on days when they attended Glasgow 2014 and/or Festival 2014 events and £76 per day on other days.
• While overnight visitors represent just 37% of all unique visitors, they accounted for over two-thirds of total visitor expenditure (£161 million).
• While the largest proportions of overnight visitors stayed one or more nights in Glasgow (50%), Edinburgh (17%), South Lanarkshire (5%) and Stirling (5%) it is notable that visits from outside of Scotland involved overnight stays in every Scottish local authority area.
• While 36% of overnight visitors stayed in a hotel, almost as many stayed in the homes of friends or family (33%). Other types of accommodation used most often included B&Bs and Guesthouses (8%) and self-catering accommodation (7%). Visitors from outside of Scotland, including those from overseas, were particularly likely to use a wide range of accommodation types, including hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs and the homes of friends and family.

Volume of overnight visitors and expenditure

8.2 37% of visitors (c.250,000) stayed away from home during their trip, each spending an average of 6.8 days in Scotland equating to a total of 1.7 million days in Scotland (60% of total visitor days).

8.3 These visitors spent an average of £125 per day on days when they attended Glasgow 2014 and/or Festival 2014 events and £76 per day on other days. By comparison the average spend per day amongst domestic overnight tourists in Scotland during 2013 was £74^[19].

8.4 Total spend by overnight visitors attending the Games is estimated at £161 million, representing over two-thirds of total visitor expenditure (estimated at £228 million).

Areas stayed in

8.5 Respondents who had stayed overnight during their trip were asked to specify where they had stayed during their trip. As illustrated in the map below (Figure 8.1), as would be expected the largest proportion of overnight visitors spent one or more nights in Glasgow (50%) while 17% stayed in Edinburgh. The next most visited local authorities were South Lanarkshire (5%) and Stirling (5%). Notably, visitors from outside of Scotland reported overnight stays in every Scottish local authority area (see Figure A.11 in Annex A for further details).

Figure 8.1. Percentage of overnight visitors staying overnight in each mainland Scotland local authority area during visit

Base: All respondents who stayed overnight (925)

Note: See Table A.8 in Annex A for full details.

8.6 The areas stayed in varied by the place of residence of visitors. Most notably, 66% of residents of Scotland stayed overnight within Glasgow compared to 46% of visitors from other parts of the UK. Also while 6% of residents of Scotland stayed overnight in Edinburgh, this proportion was higher amongst visitors from other parts of the UK and overseas (19%) (see Table A.9 in Annex A).

Length of stay

8.7 Across all overnight visitors, an average of 6.1 nights were spent away from home with the vast majority of this time spent in Scotland (average 5.8 nights).

8.8 As might be expected, the average number of nights spent away from home increased with distance travelled with international visitors from outside of Europe typically spending around twice as long in Scotland as those from the UK (see Figure 8.2 below).

Figure 8.2. Average length of stay (nights) by place of residence

Base: All respondents who stayed overnight (925)

Accommodation type

8.9 As shown in Figure 8.3, 36% of overnight visitors stayed in a hotel while 33% stayed with friends or family. Smaller proportions used B&B and Guesthouse (8%), self-catering (7%) or other types of accommodation.

8.10 Amongst those who stayed in a hotel, the largest proportion stayed in 3 or 4 star graded properties.

8.11 By comparison VisitScotland tourism statistics^[20] reported that amongst the normal overnight tourism market to Glasgow, a larger proportion of visitors used hotel accommodation (51%) while fewer stayed with friends and relatives (19%).

Figure 8.3. Accommodation used during visit

Hotel (5 star/luxury)
Hotel (4 star)
Hotel (3 star)
Hotel (1-2 star)

Base: All respondents who stayed overnight (925)

Note: 'Net' hotel result is less than sum of hotel categories due to effects of rounding.

8.12 The types of accommodation used varied somewhat by the place of residence of staying visitors. Those resident in Scotland were more likely to stay with friends or relatives, Europeans were more likely to stay in a hotel and other international visitors were more likely to stay in self-catering accommodation or a service apartment (see Table A.9 in Annex A for more details).

8.13 There was no significant difference in the types of accommodation used by those attending the different types of event.

Comparing Games visitors with typical overnight visitors to Glasgow

8.14 The table below compares the profile of overnight visitors who attended the Games with the profile of typical visitors who include Glasgow in overnight trips (based on VisitScotland’s Scotland Visitor Survey).

8.15 This comparison suggests that Games visitors were more likely than the ‘norm’ to live in parts of the UK outside of Scotland, were more likely to have been to Scotland before and more likely to stay in the homes of friends or relatives. They were also more likely to be satisfied with the experience and expect to return.

Table 8.1. Cultural events and activities seen by place of residence

	Scotland Visitor Survey 2011 – Overnight visitors including Glasgow in trip*	Games Visitor Survey – Overnight visitors
Place of origin Scotland Other UK Overseas	20% 56% 24%	18% 73% 9%
Average nights spend in Glasgow	3.3	2.8
Proportion on first visit to Scotland (non-Scots only)	41%	31%
Accommodation used on trip Hotel Friends/ relatives home Hostel B&B/ Guesthouse	51% 19% 14% 19%	36% 33% 1% 8%
Proportion ‘very satisfied’ with experience of Glasgow	56%	76%
Proportion who will ‘definitely’ return to Glasgow	38%	51%

*Source: Scotland Visitor Survey 2011 – See Regional Results: Glasgow City.
http://www.visitscotland.org/pdf/Visitor%20Survey%20-%20Regional%20Factsheet%20-%20Glasgow%20FV3_pptx%20[Read-Only].pdf