UK’S leading footfall tracker tells 'Ripple Effect' towns dont write off the Oympic opportunity

Feb. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Springboard, retail insights specialist that tracks footfall in over 350 UK town and city locations, has today challenged town centres across the country to maximse the potential of the 2012 Olympics.  With many town centre managers around the UK sceptical about the value of the Olympics to their towns, Springboard is issuing an Olympic checklist to towns and cities to help them identify the retail opportunity and cash in on increased footfall.  

Springboard predicts there are four potential Olympic winners this summer – those towns hosting an official event and their surrounding (satellite) areas; established tourist destinations; staycation hotspots, and towns with a strong community spirit.  

Springboard, which works with the Association of Town Centre Management, is urging town centres to take advantage of the influx in footfall by planning events, encouraging development and welcoming temporary businesses such as pop-up shops during the summer of 2012. Towns and cities that embrace the event by throwing parties, celebrations and screenings will see a reflection in footfall – Springboard’s figures showed a +7.9% national footfall increase over the weekend of the Royal Wedding last year, and Oldham saw a +36.2% rise in footfall during the Royal Wedding last year when the town threw a traditional British street party.

Diane Wehrle, Research Director at Springboard, explains, “Both international and domestic visitors will be looking to make the most of Olympic events and will be seeking hotels, restaurants and other attractions in the nearby area. While these host cities will certainly see an immediate rise in footfall, we believe there will also be a significant ripple effect.  For towns such as Poole, near Weymouth, which has seen a -12.2% dip in footfall over the past year, this will be a crucial boost.  Greater London centres located in the ‘doughnut ring’ around London – which have seen footfall decline by an average of -6.1% in 2010 and a further drop of -2.4% in 2011 - are also set to reap the big benefits as visitors look to stay in affordable areas with good transport links such as Kingston, Chingford and Uxbridge.”

Springboard is sending out the following guidelines to its 85 town centre partners to encourage them to make the most of the opportunity presented by the 2012 Games:  

Springboard’s Olympic checklist:

   Are you and Olympic site or within 20 miles of an Olympic site and therefore likely to feel the ‘ripple effect’ – knock on increase in vistors staying locally?
   Are you already a tourist destination?
   Are you likely to see increased visitors from UK staycationers before and during the Olympics?  
   Are you in a town that embraces community spirit and gets behind public events?  
   Can you create your own theatre?
If so, are you maximising the potential footfall increase throughout the Olympic period by considering:
   Limited special offers and promotions
   Town centre events to drive footfall e.g. live screenings of the Games, street parties
   Lobbying local authorities for reduced parking charges
   Shop local loyalty cards
   Offering short lease contracts on retail space to encourage pop-ups and minimise vacancy rates
   Traffic-free events


Steve Booth, CEO of Springboard, says, “Springboard sees a clear opportunity for town centres during the Olympic year. We foresee the ‘ripple effect’ alone driving average increased footfall of to satellite towns of those hosting official events, and tourist-friendly towns with a high concentration of leisure and catering outlets are in a position to really seize the opportunity through additional events and offers.  Our Olympic checklist is a simple concept which offers town centres a clear focus for their efforts in driving footfall, and which also dovetails with the recommendations put forward in the Portas Review.”


-ENDS-

For further information please contact Hannah Walsh or Cat O’Donnell at Rain Communications:
0207 828 0118
firstname.surname@raincommunications.co.uk

Notes to Eds:
Springboard is the leading provider of automated footfall monitoring services for entire range of customer generating environments including the UK’s high streets, retail parks and shopping centres. Springboard’s data tracker gathers footfall counts continuously, 24 hours a day, across 85 UK towns and cities with 24,888 hourly counts a day, 174,216 a week and 696,864 a month. Springboard’s National High Street Index, published in collaboration with the Association of Town Centre Management, provides the only available measure of town centre performance. More information about the ATCM can be found at www.atcm.org