Gloucester City Council has shared new data that indicates footfall to the city is soaring.
The data, collected by specialist analytics firm Place Informatics, shows that compared with the same time last year, the number of people visiting Gloucester increased by 127,000 in the first five months of 2025.
Gloucester boasted the biggest percentage increase of any town or city in the south west of England – and ranked second in Gloucestershire for attracting day trippers and third for staycationers – with recent figures showing that tourism contributes over £300 million to the local economy.
The council is attributing the increase to Gloucester's ongoing regeneration, citing projects such as the multi-million-pound Forum development, which will feature a hotel, restaurant, rooftop cocktail bar, conference facilities, office space and parking; Gloucester Food Dock, which is home to12 independent restaurants and bars down at the docks; and the new University of Gloucestershire campus, which is due to open in autumn 2025.
Despite the recently announced delays to the opening of Hotel Indigo at The Forum, the council expects to see even more visitors flocking to the city when the flagship development is finally complete.
Leader of Gloucester City Council, Jeremy Hilton, said: 'This is great news for Gloucester. There is a huge amount of work taking place to transform the city and it is an exciting time to be living and working here.
'The Forum development is making excellent progress and along with the new university city centre campus, we expect this to be a further boost to visitor numbers.
'And there are many other projects taking shape, particularly the Greyfriars project, which will create a vibrant new garden quarter with space for community activities, a new market and food hall, as well as a park and gardens.'
