Tourism worth nearly £400m a year to Reading economy, finds REDA
Reading’s Economic and Destination Agency (REDA) has published a new report showing that tourism is worth almost £400 million a year to the town.
The Economic Impact of Tourism on Reading report estimates that the town’s visitor economy supports more than 6700 jobs – six per cent of the local working population.
Reading welcomes nearly seven million visitors a year, with day trips accounting for over 90 per cent of visits and £180 million of the total spend.
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Overnight visitors were found to contribute the remaining £120 million through hotel stays, meals, shopping, attraction visits and transport costs.
Alex Brannen, Tourism Lead at REDA, said: “Reading has an amazing tourism offer for visitors, from great shopping to tours of Reading Abbey Ruins and River Thames cruises, excellent conference and meeting venues and the cream of hotels in the Thames Valley.
“Post-pandemic, this report shows how important both leisure visits and business visitors are to Reading’s economy.
“The true value of this report will be to provide REDA with a benchmark against which to judge future economic growth relating to tourism and the visitor economy.”
The report was compiled for REDA by TSE Research using the Cambridge Tourism Economic Impact Model, and only accounts for Reading Borough rather than the Greater Reading area.
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