2020 was a year like no other; unlike anything we have ever experienced and made so singularly unique by something that arrived, in the most part, completely unexpectedly.
In fact, all our attention was elsewhere. In last year’s survey the introduction to the results began, ‘Looking forward, Brexit remains as the biggest question mark on the horizon. Whether you see it as a problem or an opportunity, it’s true to say that no one really knows what the affect might be.’
We have now left Europe, and it is still probably true to say that the effects of that remain uncertain, but near the end of January, the first Coronavirus case crossed our borders and entered the UK.
From that moment on, COVID-19 defined the year; how we lived it and how our businesses fared in it.
In the present circumstances the Wet Leisure Survey is perhaps more important than ever. Everything that affects our businesses, from customer behaviour, new trends and new challenges to the performance of the economy as a whole and how we trade with rest of the world is constantly shifting. The boom in ecommerce, the importance of the home as both sanctuary and workplace and the interruption of foreign leisure travel; all these things and many more affect our industry and we need to be agile in our responses.
As the world changes, we need to change with it.
