Dartmouth footfall - week 26 - 2021

Once again we can see a significantly better performance year on year which probably reflects a mixture of very low numbers last year and a significant staycation trend this year. This level is twice as high as the average for the South-West and so is a great performance. However the effects of this increase are a very crowded town center, great for the businesses but a bit of a bind for the residents. That is what a tourist based economy is all about.

4 Comments

  1. In an ideal world we’d be able to have visitors all year round, and not all at once. Like Bath. However that’s a different formula.

    Feast or famine. Covid has given the town a boost for a few years, but its underlying formula remains. It remains in competition with holidays abroad (when they are possible en masse), and Dartmouth is beholden to the seasons and weather.

    Living in Dartmouth still far exceeds the quality of life of many of the places these visitors come from.

    • Michael, you are right but if you want my opinion (never slow to give it!!!) We would be better off if we had a targeted marketing programme aimed at the quality visitors the town deserves. I suspect many of the current crowds are coming from Torbay on the ferry or train so we are part of the Torbay marketing message when actually we are a higher quality resort.

      • Hi Paul, are you suggesting we come like Salcombe with the more affluent tourists? Our social media pages are full of complaints about holiday lets and second home owners making it very difficult for the people who work in our pubs, restaurants and shops to find homes. Personally, I think that encouraging people from all walks of life is what makes Dartmouth a year round destination. Of course we could become like Salcombe which closes down during the Winter.

  2. Mike, no not like Salcombe but with a larger proportion of quality visitors than we currently have. We used to get them when I first moved here in 1999, together with the Torbay visitors who will always come anyway. Even without tourists our house prices will always be higher than average because of the sheer beauty of the location and the difficulty of building on this terrain that won’t change ever.

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