Coronation weekend to boost footfall by 4%
Across the weekend as a whole, annual footfall is predicted to climb by 5.0% on UK high streets, 4.0% at retail parks and 3.0% at shopping centres
The Coronation weekend is set to boost footfall by 4.0% compared to 2022 across all UK retail destinations, MRI Springboard has predicted.
According to its analysis, high street retailers can expect a “significant” boost over the weekend, with footfall up 12.0% from 2022 on the bank holiday Monday following the Coronation, with an annual increase of 10.0% at UK shopping centres.
Across the weekend as a whole, annual footfall is predicted to climb by 5.0% on UK high streets, 4.0% at retail parks and 3.0% at shopping centres.
On the day of the Coronation itself, Saturday 6 May, MRI Springboard forecasts that footfall will drop below the week previous by -8.0% across all UK retail destinations, largely due to strong footfall expected during the early May bank holiday weekend preceding the Coronation.
Despite this week-on-week decline, it noted high streets are still likely to benefit from events hosted in town and city centres to celebrate the coronation.
The forecast boost to footfall is anticipated to close the gap to 2019 levels to -10.0% across all UK retail destinations over the Coronation weekend, with footfall at retail parks narrowing to just -3.0% below pre-pandemic levels.
The forecast for footfall over the Coronation weekend is tempered by the result for footfall last week when, post-Easter this year, activity “tailed off noticeably”. Between Tuesday and Saturday last week, footfall was -3.3% lower than the week before.
This was reportedly due to lower footfall in shopping centres and retail parks that averaged -10.7% and -4.6% from the week previous. In contrast, footfall in high streets rose by an average of 1% from the week before over the five days, however, this was still a “modest uplift”.
Consequently, with the Coronation bank holiday weekend following immediately on from the Early May Bank Holiday weekend, footfall is forecast to be lower than the weekend before.
Diane Wehrle, Insights director at MRI Springboard, said: “The Coronation weekend will be a once in a lifetime event for UK consumers, offering a spectacle never seen before by most of the population.
“It is taking place the week following the early May bank holiday when MRI Springboard expects footfall to rise by around +12% as consumers enjoy the warmer weather and the longer day light hours.”
