The 2023 Newcastle Christmas market attracted more than one million visitors and provided a £56.8 million boost to the city’s economy, a new report has shown. The Christmas market has been hailed a success after generating a huge cash boost for the city.
The annual festive attraction has been hailed a success by council bosses who worked with the city’s business improvement district company, NE1 Ltd, to organise the event. The Newcastle Chronicle is reporting that North East traders were the focus of the market, which featured around 50 stalls spread out across the city centre on Grainger Street, Grey Street, and Old Eldon Square.
To measure the success of last year’s market, Newcastle City Council and NE1 commissioned Ejay Research to carry out independent research. It found that more than 1.4 million people visited the market in 2023 – a 6% increase from the previous year, with two out of every three visitors travelling to the Newcastle market from outside of the city.
The total overall spent at the Christmas market and city centre by those visiting the market was estimated as £56.8 million, up 19% on 2022.
Feedback from a survey of 300 members of the public who visited the market over nine days in December saw 86% of people express a positive opinion. It also found that 76% of visitors felt that the market improved on that of 2022, who praised the variety of stalls, food offerings and atmosphere.
The survey also found that 60% of Christmas market visitors said that they had visited, or planned to visit, the Grainger Market on the same day.
Stephen Patterson, chief executive of NE1, said: “Newcastle’s Christmas market is a crucial part of the city’s seasonal offer and a fantastic way of creating a festive focus for visitors from near and far.
“As the research has shown, the market helps make Newcastle a festive travel destination boosting business for bricks-and-mortar businesses as well as the traders at the market.”