Forecasting Visitors to Edinburgh
Supporting the restart, recovery and adaptation of Edinburgh’s tourism industry in response to the pandemic
Image by Kenny Lam, VisitScotland
Supporting the restart, recovery and adaptation of Edinburgh’s tourism industry in response to the pandemic
This collaborative project aims to support the restart, recovery and adaptation of Edinburgh’s tourism industry in response to the pandemic by developing a visualisation that equips Edinburgh businesses with specific data-driven insights on upcoming visitor demand and profile
This information will be made freely available to tourism, culture and hospitality organisations to more confidently make strategic, operational and marketing decisions.
Visitor forecasts are being targeted at short-term (for example, 1-week) and medium-term (for example, 3 months). The forecasts have used proxy indicators for the number of tourists coming to Edinburgh. These include visitors to popular Edinburgh visitor attractions and estimated hotel revenue.
Partners: University of Edinburgh – School of Mathematics, Wallscope, Edinburgh Tourism Action Group
Funding: The Data-Driven innovation Initiative as part of their ‘Building Back Better’ open funding call, helping to transform the City region into the data capital of Europe. The open call is part of Scottish Funding Council Covid-19 Recovery funding to the University of Edinburgh, and has allowed the Data-Driven Innovation initiative to allocate up grants to support staff at the University apply data-driven innovation ideas to promote job security, creation and retention within universities and economic and social recovery from the pandemic across the wider Edinburgh and South-East Scotland Region.
Current status: Ongoing