A report on the financial performance of visitor facilities owned and run by Exeter City Council has been published for the first full year since the pandemic in which they operated without any restrictions.
It found that 2023-24 visitor numbers fell 30,000 short of pre-pandemic levels, with 46,000 visitors compared with 76,000 in the year before the pandemic.
It cost the council £46,000 to run Exeter’s underground passages despite income of £97,000 from 15,000 visitors.
Exeter Custom House, a visitor centre since 2015, cost £83,000 to run via a grant from the council-controlled Exeter Canal & Quay Trust.
It hosted 22,000 visitors during the year alongside two “cultural partners”, Quay Words and Art Work Exeter, commissioned to create a quayside “cultural hub”.
Red Coat Guided Tours, which provides history and heritage city walking tours with the help of 31 volunteers, hosted 11,000 visitors visitors at a net cost of £12,000.
2023-24 was the first full year in which these facilities operated without opening restrictions since the pandemic.
