Great Yarmouth: 'We kept going which is more than a lot of others'

Great Yarmouth is known for the Golden Mile promenade and two piers dating back to the 19th Century

Billions of pounds and thousands of jobs have been lost in the East of England tourism industry. How has Great Yarmouth - one of the UK's most well-known seaside resorts - been affected?

'We didn't make a living'

Nicky's Cafe and Diner owner Terry Burch says the pandemic was difficult for Great Yarmouth

Terry Burch runs Nicky's Cafe and Diner located on Great Yarmouth's seafront.

He says getting through he pandemic has been tough for the family-run business - and he is not alone.

According to Visit East of England, the value of tourism shrunk by 56% in Norfolk, from £3.4bn in 2019 to £1.5bn in 2020 and about 40% of tourism jobs were lost.

"We took enough to keep running, not enough to make a profit," says Mr Burch.

The cafe is family-run and is on Great Yarmouth's seafront

He says: "We didn't make a living but everyone was employed so we could keep the staff on and we could get by and pay the bills.

"We didn't make money but we didn't lose money and we kept going which was a lot more than a lot of other people."

'We've got through this together'

Albert Jones, from Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, is positive about 2022

One of Great Yarmouth's biggest attractions is its Pleasure Beach, which attracted almost one million visitors a year pre-Covid.

Profits and footfall have been down due to the pandemic but managing director Albert Jones is confident for the future.

He says his staff have risen to the challenge of lockdowns and restrictions over the last 18 months.

Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach ran events over half-term and Halloween in October to bring in visitors

Mr Jones says: "It's with their support that businesses like us have managed to get through this together.

"We believe going forward the business can thrive."

'Much optimism about 2022'

Visit Great Yarmouth invited several jouralists to the town in September which raised its profile, says executive director Asa Morrison

Asa Morrison, from Visit Great Yarmouth, says the impact of the pandemic on tourism was "awful"

He says: "We lost 50% of our tourism economy, that was a seismic impact across the whole sector.

"I don't think any business wasn't bruised. The government supported businesses through furlough and loans, those were absolutely essential or those businesses wouldn't have survived."

Tourism bodies said the industry was vital to the East of England

Last year was "catastrophic" for tourism, he says, but things are already looking better for this year and next.

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"We did see a good July and August, the footfall figure was 1.1 million people, which was up on 2019, but [businesses] had lost all of those previous months.

"We've also had a strong half-term, so there is much optimism about 2022," Mr Morrison says.

'Tourism will come back stronger'

Pete Waters from Visit East of England says tourism in the region needed to have had a strong 2021

Visit East of England's executive director, Pete Waters, said the pandemic "could have been catastrophic had it not been for swift government intervention in terms of furlough".

He says: "Had that not happened there could have been tens of thousands of jobs going and business going to the wall.

"Most businesses have got through 2020 into 2021.

"Businesses will have learnt lessons from the pandemic and the industry will come back stronger in 2022."