UK seaside towns had a booming August thanks to volcanic Mediterranean heatwaves – as data experts claim it made holidaymakers opt for staycations instead. Across Southern Europe, records for the maximum June 2025 temperature in both Portugal and Spain were broken when temperatures surpassed 46C (115F) – with regional records broken in at least 10 other countries.
The summer 2025 heatwaves across the Mediterranean also fuelled numerous wildfires, causing further damage to ecosystems, property, human life and air quality. Now the UK’s leading authority on visitor behaviour analytics, Place Informatics, claim UK tourism-led destinations – particularly our seaside towns – outperformed normal trends, with soaring visitors. The UK seaside town that saw the biggest rise in visitors was St Annes, near Blackpool in Lancashire, which boasts trendy boutiques, a wide beach with sand dunes and modern beach huts, a Victorian pier, plush hotels and restaurants.
Their latest ‘Town Centre Visitor Report’ for August 2025 attributed the rise in staycation holidaymakers to the unbearable European heatwaves.
They explained: “The latest report reveals while national town centre footfall has seen modest year-to-date growth, tourism-led destinations, particularly seaside towns, continue to outperform the trend.
“This reflects the ongoing impact of extreme heat in the Mediterranean, encouraging more British holidaymakers to choose domestic summer getaways.”
Coastal locations dominated the top-performing towns in August, with seaside resorts seeing the highest year-on-year increases: St Annes (+7.99%), Lytham (+7.30%), Seaham (+5.81%), Cleveleys (+5.24%), Southend-on-Sea (+5.06%), Fleetwood (+4.41%), Great Yarmouth Town Centre (+4.32%), and East Wittering (+3.95%), underlining the continued importance of tourism to town centre vitality.
Away from just seaside towns, Place Informatics’ new report for the summer of 2025 shows in the UK year-to-date (from January 2025 until August 2025), footfall increased by +1.06%, showing modest growth nationally.
They measured football across 2,300 UK towns to enable a “robust understanding of footfall trends from the smallest town centre to major cities.”
Tourist-focused seaside towns significantly outpaced the national average, demonstrating the draw of domestic summer destinations during periods of extreme Mediterranean heat.
Coastal and leisure-driven locations remain vital for sustaining town centre activity, with visitor numbers in these areas continuing to rise faster than broader trends.
Clive Hall, CEO of Place Informatics said: “Our August report confirms that UK seaside towns are leading the way in attracting visitors.
“With Mediterranean destinations experiencing extreme temperatures, domestic tourism is benefiting, and towns like St Annes are seeing exceptional growth.
“These figures reinforce the need for local councils and businesses to align strategies with seasonal tourism patterns to maximise footfall.”
As the UK moves into the autumn season, Place Informatics provides local authorities, BIDs, and businesses with actionable insights to help harness tourism, boost visitor numbers, and strengthen long-term town centre resilience.
