Restaurants and hotels benefit from uplift in visits to The Quays in Greater Manchester

Figures from the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) report, the assessment of tourist activity in Britain, show that the number of visitors to the area, which houses The Imperial War Museums, The Lowry, MediaCityUK, Lowry Outlet and Old Trafford, rose 9 per cent to 3.3m last year resulting in £251.6m being spent in the area. 

While the greatest uplift came from those visiting cultural and leisure outlets, restaurants and hotels benefited from the greatest amount of visitor spend.

Restaurants at The Quays, which include Pizza Express, Prezzo, Wagamama, Damson and Clippers Brasserie at the Copthorne Hotel, saw an uplift of 10 per cent to £32.5m in spend in 2012 compared to 2011 while accommodation providers experienced an uplift of 3 per cent to £32.18m fuelled by 507,000 overnight visits. 

Graham Boxer, director of IWM North, part of Imperial War Museums, said: “With some of the UK’s most iconic buildings and venues, The Quays has become a high quality visitor destination, so it was great to see visitor numbers increasing last year. There is even more we can do - a major programme of cultural activities, for example, will continue to make The Quays a must visit destination in the months and years ahead.”

An influx of visitors to the area also led to the creation of hundreds of new jobs at The Quays. In 2012 the number of jobs rose 12 per cent to 3,048 across a range of sectors including hotels, shopping, food and beverage and transport. 

In 2012 bedstock also rose in the area to 3000, which was significantly influenced by the development of the serviced apartment stock.