Dear colleagues – it was wonderful to celebrate all that we have achieved together at the Bostin’ Bash this month. That was particularly timely as, with a sold-out Peaky Blinders Night, Halloween Nights, major filming activity and our rich programme of Christmas events coming quickly, we can be so busy preparing to delight our visitors that we need to remember and recognise the effort that goes into our busiest time of the year in the summer.
It’s also important to celebrate that effort in a summer when attracting visitors has proved to be more challenging than hoped for attractions across the UK. You’ll already know we have been no different than many other attractions in confronting these headwinds. Accordingly, while we welcomed 98,678 visitors across July and August, that was down 15% against 2023 and the budget we set ourselves. Challenging attendance means working together on Our Bostin’ Promise will be more important than ever to ensure visitors continue to choose us for their valuable free time.
However, it’s right to observe that whereas many destinations are down on a baseline of 2019, we continue to welcome more visitors than pre-covid, a result of the tremendous growth of our Museum that we rightly celebrated at the colleague party.
It’s also testament to your work that our visitor feedback metrics remain superb, reflected in the accreditation of VisitEngland Quality Assured Visitor Attraction in July. Our overall quality score is 93%, which is our highest score to date and means we will be nominated for a Gold Accolade. We’ve also just heard that we’re finalists in the West Midlands Tourism Awards 2025 for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year.
Thank you again then for your fantastic work this summer. Although attendance has not been what we wanted, the quality of the offer absolutely is. Our visitors, stakeholders and partners recognise this, which is a great platform for what will be a busy autumn and winter ahead.
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