The annual Christmas shopping spree may have taken its time in taking off but it grew to reach highs of nearly 50,000 visitors in just one day, according to figures released by the Galway City Business Association (GCBA ).
A pedestrian counter was set up by the GCBA for the Christmas period in order to monitor the footfall on Shop Street. Figures for the weekend of Friday December 14 until Sunday, December 16, show that 126,360 people visited Shop Street, with the busiest time of the weekend being Saturday at 2pm when figures peacked at 49,954. The average hourly visits to the street were 1,755 on Satuday, December 15.
Commenting on the pedestrian counter, GCBA’s Gill Carroll said: “This information is invaluable, if we have counters in place next year retailers will be able to compare figures year on year. It will also empower the retailers with vital information so they can best plan for 2013 in terms of opening hours, marketing plans, rota planning, etc.”
The figures show that on Friday, December 14, a total of 41,491 visitors came to Shop Street, 49,954 on Saturday, December 15, and 34,915 on Sunday, December 16. Figures for Saturday, December 1, hit a total of 47,393, reduced to a low of 20,376 on Thursday, December 6, and jumped back up to 47,732 by Saturday, December 9. Weekday footfall certainly saw significant improvement with figures hitting 27,475 on Monday, December 10, rising each day to reach 29,850 on Wednesday, December 12, and 36,722 on Thursday, December 13.
