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Tourist Information Centre Statistics
We are often asked to provide statistics to individuals or groups. These people have different requirements but it is important to understand a little about the figures which the Worthing Tourist Information Centre provides.
How and What Do We Record?
Statistics recorded at Worthing TICs are done manually by staff using a "tick" system to record enquiries against certain criteria on to an "Enquiry Sheet". Our figures do not represent the 'number of visitors to Worthing'. Logistically this is very difficult to do and is not collected.
Equiries - are separated as:-
- Personal - visitors to the TIC making enquiries of the staff, or making purchases.
- Telephone - calls received at the office (includes answer-phone messages).
- Written - no. of letters received requesting information (includes faxes received).
- E-mail enquiries.
Enquirers - Each of the above categories are then further divided by
- Local Resident Enquirer - the customer is from Worthing. This has changed from being a wider area to being a Worthing resident - this may be easier to get from customers and helps identify usage by the residents.
- Rest of the UK Enquirer - people from the rest of the UK
- Overseas Enquirer - helps identify foreign visitors to Worthing
This is not an 'exact' science, as customers are not always asked for place of origin. It is however based on the experience of staff eliciting clues from the enquiries made.
Type of Enquiry - useful in identifying where or how we should develop our service.
- Local - enquiries on Worthing or West Sussex. (Can include giving directions).
- Accommodation - requests for availability / phone numbers / bookings for Worthing / West Sussex guides.
- Non - Local - Enquiries about areas outside of West Sussex (includes brochures for these areas).
- Non - Tourism - Any queries on other topics - not related to tourism.
We also record:-
- No. of Guides Posted - helps identify the volumes wanting additional information. Brochurelink - requests on their system are counted at the end of the day. This helps identify the use of this service for sending out Worthing guides.
- Magic Eye - the number of people entering the Seafront office may be recorded by automatic counter. Helps identify customers who come in but do not ask for the help of an assistant.
- Bookings - to give us statistics of Accommodation bookings made.
- Income - income from sales of goods / commissions earned etc.
Making Comparisons?
It is very difficult to compare figures between Tourist Information Centres or towns, due to the varying work practices and situations. It is known that other TICs and Tourism organisations record statistics in different ways. Any attempts therefore, to compare or benchmark on the basis of comparing these statistics should only be done with care, after checking what, and how all the figures are collected.
Worthing Tourist Information Centres - Points to be aware of:-
In summer we operate two sites (1/2 mile apart).
- Seafront Office - open 1 May to 30 September, 7 days per week. Generally staffed by two people. The Seafront office is easily found by the majority of visitors.
- Chapel Road - open all year, Monday - Friday. Also open Saturdays from October to April.Chapel Road office is more available to residents, and deals with all administration / Tourism support / reporting / stock control etc.Staff - Manager and 1 Assistant (37 hrs per week), 2 Assistants (22.5 hrs per week)
Logging of Enquiries
We try to manually log all phone calls coming in (no account for calls we make out). We note the number of postal items received for which we provide a reply.We manually log enquiries - not the visitors to the TIC (i.e. those who spoke to a Tourist Information Centre staff team member). Magic eye numbers enable us to try to monitor the actual numbers of people who come in to the office. We are only human and forget to log on occasions. Our figures therefore understate the true situation. No adjustment is made for the length of time that one enquiry can take up. One person asking a number of questions is only counted once.
What is not counted or monitored?
Deliveries of stocks of literature (ordering / unpacking / filing / storing etc).The number of actual visitors to our display areas.The number of sales transactions dealt with.Numbers of outgoing calls - especially when booking accommodation.Calls out requesting details of vacancies to assist visitors requiring beds.Our ongoing preparation and updating of information sheets.The reading of literature/papers etc essential to provide an information service.Researching information via the web or other sources.Maintaining data on WBC and Tourism related websites.Other Computer or administration work.
Any statistics from Worthing TIC are provided for your interest only, and care should be taken with their use and assumptions made from them. We accept no liability for errors or omissions.
You may wish to obtain further information to assist with your particular research and other sources of Tourism statistics are listed below:
- Tourism South East
- World Tourism Organisation
- National Statistics
- Visit Britain – UK Industry
- Insights - The Tourism Marketing Intelligence Service
- Star UK - Statistics on Tourism & Research |
Graphs illustrating statistics for 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 are available by clicking on the link below
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