'Staycation didn't happen' for Blackpool's summer
- Published
A report for Blackpool Council said the summer of 2019 saw "mixed fortunes"
A tourism official said "the staycation definitely didn't happen" as visitor numbers to Blackpool fell during a rainy summer.
The rain saw the cancellation of half of the Blackpool Air Show weekend and a cut-down version on the remaining day.
However more visitors arrived by train in 2019 compared to 2018, when numbers were hit by cancelled services.
A report for Blackpool Council found it was "a season of mixed fortunes", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Blackpool's Comedy Carpet in 2019
Visitor numbers were "very positive" during the good weather on Easter and August bank holidays, and in October half-term during the Blackpool Illuminations, the report said.
It added "other parts of the season were adversely affected by inconsistent weather, with the Met Office reporting the summer as one of the wettest on record, external".
Claire Smith, president of hoteliers' group StayBlackpool, said: "The staycation definitely didn't happen, but now we have a political situation where we know more clearly where we're going, I'm hoping that will have a stabilising effect.
"When people are feeling uncertainty, they hold back on their money because they don't know what they will need it for."
Between April and October 2019, the figures estimate that:
Footfall in the town centre dropped to 10.9 million compared to 11.6m in the same period in 2018
Footfall on the Promenade dropped to 3.8m from 4.2m over the same time
Car park ticket sales fell from 772,969 in 2018 - when some months saw record figures - to 770,341 in 2019
Rail passenger arrivals rose by nearly 56,000 to 782,637
Resort Pass sales increased from 16,288 to 17,730 with 19,000 sales during the whole of 2019
The tourism performance report is due to go before the council's tourism, economy and communities scrutiny committee on 8 January.