The Islands’ Partnership has launched the official 2016 Isles of Scilly Visitor Survey and hopes as many visitors to the islands as possible this year will be encouraged to rate their Isles of Scilly holiday experience.

The survey, which is open until 20th November 2016, will be available both online and in hard copy format. As a thank you from the Islands’ Partnership, all respondents to the survey will be put into a draw to win a splendid Scilly Christmas Hamper. All respondents will also have the opportunity to receive free membership to the Karma Club.

The format of this year’s survey follows those in 2014 and 2015 so that concrete information is captured, meaningful comparisons can be made with previous years and any trends spotted. Additionally this year, new questions have been added – in particular about how visitors typically like to book holidays (on line, by telephone, via travel agent etc.), how they came to visit the islands for the very first time (e.g. via day trip, cruise, short break or holiday), about inter-island boating experiences and the number of islands visited whilst here, and questions about travel stopovers in the south-west of England both on the way to and returning from the Isles of Scilly.

“Last year, the survey found that 30% of visitors were new to the islands, supporting a similar figure noted in 2014. Although it is feasible that newcomers might be more likely to complete the survey, the consistency does indicate a growing percentage of new visitors to the islands,” says David Jackson, Executive Director, Islands’ Partnership. “Holiday makers are becoming increasingly consumer savvy and more demanding so it is crucial that we measure their expectations and experiences – in particular to understand the reasons that bring them to Scilly in the first place and to ensure that ‘Scilly plc’ gives them every reason to return. The Isles of Scilly Visitor Survey is one tool that gives us an essential platform, along with other surveys, data capture and customer profiling, on which to build effective marketing campaigns and look at opportunities to improve the Scilly ‘product’.”

Members of the Islands’ Partnership are being encouraged to download hard copies for guests and customers from the Islands’ Partnership website as well as insert a link to the on-line survey from their own websites.

The Islands’ Partnership has this week launched a new marketing dashboard for all IP members who advertise on the Visit Isles of Scilly website.

Following on from announcing the results of our Isles of Scilly 2015 Visitor Survey, the IP is now able to share with members our first ‘Marketing Dashboard’ – an easy to read snapshot of some of the results and stats from our marketing and visitislesofscilly.com in particular over the last year. The dashboard also includes how members’ business listings have been performing to date on the site, which are compared with the Visit Isles of Scilly website’s overall performance as well as their own performance year-on-year.

Going forward, the IP hopes to be able to share these Marketing Dashboards with members periodically over the year so that they can see for themselves how the Visit Isles of Scilly website and other activity is working for their business(es) and the islands as a whole. To help members to analyse their dashboards, the IP organised two open mornings next week – Tuesday 24th May or Thursday 26th May. They will also have the chance to discuss ways in which their listings could attract more traffic and have 1-to-1 training on how to update listings.

The Islands’ Partnership has launched live search for accommodation availability on the Visit Isles of Scilly website, enabling potential visitors to the islands to filter and enquire upfront which accommodation is available on specific dates of travel. Users can then make direct booking enquiries via the website to accommodation providers and go on to book direct. This new functionality will help boost the 10,000+ booking enquiries that are already made through the Visit Isles of Scilly website each year.

When website users head to the accommodation section of the website, alongside the ability to filter by island, accommodation type, offers and dog friendly etc, there is also an option to include an arrival date and number of nights to stay. Accommodation that shows availability from the selected date is filtered to the top of the list; those providers showing “unknown availability” is then listed below.

Search by availability was the single-most asked-for improvement to the Visit Isles of Scilly website in a pop-up web user survey which has been running on visitislesofscilly.com since the beginning of the year.

“We have known for a while that a live search by date availability is a tool that visitors – and many of our accommodation providers – have wanted on the Visit Isles of Scilly website. This survey have given us the evidence that backs up what people have been telling us,” says David Jackson, Islands’ Partnership Executive Director. “Almost half of respondents requested the option to search by date availability; a similar number also wanted the option to be able to book online, a tool that the Islands’ Partnership will look into as part of our website Phase 2 developments.”

According to the survey, more than 36% of users visiting the website were seeking information about accommodation, closely followed by 35% looking for information about a long break or holiday. 29% of visitors to the website were seeking practical information about visiting the islands and 26% of users were looking for information about short breaks. A smaller percentage of users were looking at food and drink options, things to do and special offers.

Accommodation providers advertising on the visitislesofscilly.com are being reminded, now more than ever before, to ensure their business listings’ availability calendars are accurate and up-to-date not just for this year, but also for 2017 and beyond. They are being invited to drop-in sessions at the Islands’ Partnership office on Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th May. Those currently not using the website’s availability calendar will be encouraged to “turn it on” and shown how to update it.

Almost a third (30%) of visitors to Scilly in 2015 were new to the islands and of these new visitors, 45% came for a short break of between 2 and 4 days. This is an increase of 4% in first time visitors compared with 2014. Once again, the vast majority of those visiting Scilly in 2015 were inspired to come by the scenery (94%) and/or peace and quiet (87%). 70% were inspired by our beaches and 58% our wildlife.

These figures are taken from the results of the official Isles of Scilly Visitor Survey conducted by the Islands’ Partnership in 2015. The survey, which captured responses from more than 2,000 visitors to the islands throughout the year is the most comprehensive ever and builds on previous studies in 2013 and 2014.

Findings also showed that more than 40% of visitors arrived from the southwest of England, followed by London and the Southeast (22.5%). Peak months for visitors to the islands were June, July and August for longer holidays (8+ days), whilst May and September were most popular for short breaks.

Of those booking accommodation, 41% of respondents booked online with their accommodation provider; 33% booked by telephone. 59% felt that a quality star rating was important or very important – rising to 65% amongst first time visitors.

Online resources important

When asked which information sources visitors used when planning and booking their trip to Scilly, 62% of respondents used visitislesofscilly.com with a further 36% using the Isles of Scilly Guide (brochure). Moreover, 34% regarded the visitislesofscilly.com website to have been the most useful source of information – up by 10% on 2014.

Use of social media, in particular Facebook, increased significantly in 2015 over 2014 – from 59% to 83% in just one year. This is particularly interesting given the age range of respondents: two thirds of visitors to the islands were aged 45 years or over (66%) compared with 57% in 2014. Use of Twitter rose from 24% to 28%, Pinterest from 6% to 11% and Instagram 6% to 10%. Google+ dropped to 16% from 21%.

Rest & relaxation, walking and island hopping major draws to Scilly

The features and activities on the islands which visitors considered of highest importance to them were walking, rest & relaxation, island hopping, beaches, wildlife, local plants and gardens, and eating out. Indeed, 63% of visitors said a food and drink festival would encourage them to visit, with walking festivals, music events and maritime festivals also considered a draw.

Other statistics revealed by the survey found that 38% of first-time visitors were initially prompted to come to Scilly by a personal recommendation, followed by visiting visitislesofscilly.com and seeing Scilly featured on TV. 97% of visitors rated their holiday as good or excellent, with general atmosphere (98%) and sense of welcome (94%) scoring well. The islands scored lowest for the quality (58% good or excellent) and range (53%) of evening entertainment in particular value for money of places to eat and drink, and the quality and range of grocery provision shops.

Average spend increasing

Average spend per person per day on the islands (excluding accommodation) was £49.30 (compared with £44.88 in 2014) ranging from £48.35 for staying visitors and £54.26 for those visiting Scilly for the day.

30% of visitors said it was important that they arrived on the islands on a Saturday, whilst 21% said the same for a Thursday and 20% for a Friday. The largest proportion of respondents overall said that they could be flexible, however. More than half of the respondents felt that the St. Mary’s airport upgrade and Porthcressa development had improved the islands.

72% of respondents reached their connecting flights or boat to the islands by car; a further 14% connected by train. Only 2% connected by air (down from 10% in 2014). Lands’ End and St. Mary’s Airport received high levels of satisfaction amongst visitors, and Penzance Quay, the lowest.

“This comprehensive survey once again looked at many aspects of the visitor experience of Scilly and has enabled us to build on the knowledge we have already gleaned from the 2014 visitor survey and the face-to-face interviews undertaken in 2013. We are better able to spot and analyse emerging trends based on real data, for example the continued rise in first time visitors, the need for a better quality and more varied food and drink offering, and the importance of a sustained and up-to-date online presence,” says Islands’ Partnership Executive Director, David Jackson. “Understanding our visitors’ experiences and monitoring the profile of tourism in Scilly as a whole not only enables local businesses to align services to the expectations and needs of their customers, but also provides an evidence base to support product development and any future business development that helps to grow the value of the islands’ visitor economy.”

The 2015 Visitor Survey was conducted by the Islands’ Partnership in association with The South West Research Company.

Cornwall Business Week kicks off on Monday and the Islands’ Partnership is making sure it’s there to increase visibility and awareness of Scilly’s businesses amongst the business community in Cornwall.  

As well as having a stand at the eighth Cornwall Business Fair taking place on Wednesday at the Eden Project, we will be attending various seminars including one about Finance and one about Sustainability. 

The Cornwall Business Fair is a highly prestigious Business-to-Business event and exhibition which last year attracted more than 2,500 people. “It is important that we network and raise our profile amongst Cornwall’s business community. Ultimately, our goal is to find and increase business opportunities for the islands,” says David Jackson, Executive Director, Islands’ Partnership. “We intend to present a compelling case to those businesses exhibiting or attending the fair about how they could benefit from becoming a ‘supplier member’ of the Islands’ Partnership.”

To that end, the Islands’ Partnership has put together a very attractive package for all attendees next week which includes special rates to attend next year’s Supply Scilly, the opportunity to present at Scilly Business Week and the opportunity to promote their product or service to our 300+ members. 

Cornwall Business Week reaches its climax on Thursday at the Cornwall Business Awards, where Scilly will be represented by Island Fish, shortlisted in the Best New Business category.