Data from retail specialist, Springboard, has shown that footfall across UK retail declined by 9.3% week on week.
The figures showed that towns which attract tourists recorded the largest declines from the half term week, with coastal town visits declining by 20.7%.
High Streets saw a decline of 10.9%, while footfall in shopping centres fell by 11.6%, but retail parks saw a smaller fall of just 3.1%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, commented: “Footfall in UK retail destinations fell back sharply last week, eliminating virtually all the uplift gained in the week before last during the school October half term break. However, it is important to appreciate that this was an expected result, as footfall has dropped in the week post the October half term break in every year since Springboard started publishing footfall benchmarks in 2009.
“With high streets and shopping centres recording the largest gains during the half term week, it was in these two destination types where footfall declined most with double-digit drops. The fall back to the pre half term footfall level was not specific to any particular area with all UK geographies recording declines.”
