Public reports pack PDF 6 MB - East Lindsey District Council

2.8. Bookings are strong for the July and August school holidays,particularly at Sutton on Sea, but even in July and August at Queen’sPark in Mablethorpe, occupancy peaks at 67%. At all other times,occupancy rates struggle to break 20%, except for school holidays.Schools have worked hard to reduce term-time absences and thesefigures may reflect their success in this.2.9. In 2007 a benchmarking exercise showed that our hire fees were lowerthan elsewhere. Therefore in 2008, the complicated pricing structurewas simplified to a standard charge throughout the season and thehigher than inflation increase applied generated more income, but theoccupancy rate was slightly lower.2.10. To further stimulate occupancy levels, prices were frozen at 2008/09levels in 2009/10 and in 2010/11 and, responding to customerrequests, a half-day let was introduced. A promotions campaign wasrun with posters distributed across the District and beyond. The JollyFisherman went “on the road” to venues within 60 minutes drive-timeto promote all Coastal activities, making appearances at theLincolnshire Show, Nottingham’s Riviera beach and the RotaryConference in Bridlington. The chalets have had regional and nationalpublicity linked to the Bathing Beauties and the annual Festival.2.11. Freezing the prices and doing more promotions, with more peoplecoming to the coast on “staycations”, seems to have increasedoccupancy rates in 2009/10, with a small drop back in 2010/11.Bookings for 2011/12 are currently as expected for Mablethorpe, but alittle lower than expected for Sutton on Sea. In the last 2 years, therehave been some cancelled bookings with hirers often citing redundancyas the reason. The 2007 user survey and knowledge of current usersshows that the majority of hirers are “regulars” who have had a chaletfor 20-30 years. The increasing age of these customers may be a factorin any reduction in occupancy levels.2.12. This may indicate that, whilst there is a core of loyal users, overallthere is a dwindling market for the chalets. However, the high level ofenquiries about the Bathing Beauties (most of which did not becomebookings), and renewed interest nationally in beach chalets, mayindicate a market for better quality chalets. The 2007 user survey alsosuggested this might be the case. In these circumstances, there isample scope for new private investment in the foreshore.3.0. SUBJECT INFORMATION AND ISSUES/FACTS AND FIGURES3.1. The average annual expenditure per chalet in 2007 was £622.073.2. The average annual expenditure per chalet in 2008 was £494.683.3. The average annual expenditure per chalet in 2009 was £xxPage 94