July 2025 results from the Cultural Enterprises Commercial Performance Barometer are now live on our dashboard. Based on a summer-holiday-defying 155 responses, this month’s key findings include:
- Admissions 3% down on July 2024, but indoor venues up
- Weather and overseas visitors are driving performance
- Catering spend remains strong as we enter the summer holidays
- Retail continues to perform below inflation.
For the second consecutive month, average admissions are tracking 3% below 2024 levels, with 52% of venues reporting a decline, compared to 32% reporting an increase.
Weather again played a key role, but whereas a hotter than average June drove down visits to all site types, in July the impact was more nuanced. Although the month started with the hottest temperature of the year (35.8 degrees reported in Kent), conditions became colder and wetter from the middle of the month, when the school holidays started. The timing of these more temperate conditions was good news for indoor sites, which reported a 2% increase in admissions, leading one indoor museum to say:
“The weather has also been in our favour, with many wet/dull days within the holidays.”
For outdoor venues for whom it was ‘too hot’ at the start of the month, and ‘too wet’ later on, conditions were less kind, and admissions fell by 6% on average.
VisitBritain flight search data suggests that interest in travel to the UK is waning, and this comes across in our findings. Admissions are down amongst venues reliant on overseas visitors across the UK, and it’s likely this will get worse before it gets better.
More positively, admissions for the year-to-date remain in line with 2024, venues still benefitting from a strong Easter. Catering spend also represents a positive, with spend per visitor ahead of 2024 (including inflation) for the fifth month this year. Retail remains a challenge overall, with spend per visitor increasing below inflation for the sixth consecutive month, but, as the below excerpts highlight, a combination of new stock ranges, commercially viable exhibitions, and price increases on bestsellers has delivered a positive month for many.
“The exhibition continues to give strong traction to the commercial offer and with the retail & F&B outlets being part of a free to enter site they continue to perform strongly. Staffing levels and standards are good and we are able to actively sell the new Retail ranges which have been developed in the past few weeks.”
“Strong visitor numbers and some price increases on key sellers delivered growth in July.”
“New stock ranges in the shop and the start of the school holidays and our Kids for £1 special offer bringing in a higher number of families.”
So overall, July is a bit of a mixed bag – continued concerns, but lots to be positive about.
Where to find out more
Members can learn much more via the Commercial Performance Barometer online dashboard where you can filter by sub-group and merge months. We’ve now had more than 250 sites contribute to the Barometer and are looking forward to continuing to grow this service in the coming months.
Join us to hear further analysis and key highlights including case studies and examples of outstanding best practice in our free webinar on 23 September. Book now
For more information about the Commercial Performance Barometer please contact tom@culturalenterprises.org.uk or jon.young@decisionhouse.co.uk.
