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The number of shoppers heading to Welsh retail destinations still remains down on pre-pandemic levels despite footfall continuing to rise compared to 2022, figures show. According to new data from the Welsh Retail Consortium, footfall increased by 3% in April year-on-year.

However, this was 6.1 percentage points worse than March and lower than the º£½ÇÊÓƵ average increase of 5.3% (year-on-year). When compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, total Welsh footfall was 18% lower, with shopping centres down by 34.6% and footfall in Cardiff by 13.0%.

Of the nations and regions in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, Wales recorded a higher increase in footfall, compared to last year, than Northern Ireland (2.9%), Yorkshire and the Humber (2.9%), North West England (2.8%), South West England (1.8%). North East England was the only region to see a drop in footfall numbers by minus 3.2%.

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TOTAL FOOTFALL BY NATION AND REGION

GROWTH RANK	NATION AND REGION	% GROWTH YoY
1	London	+10.0%
2	England	+9.7%
3	Scotland	+7.7%
4	West Midlands	+6.0%
5	East Midlands	+6.0%
6	East of England	+5.3%
7	South East England	+5.3%
8	Wales	+3.0%
9	Northern Ireland	+2.9%
10	Yorkshire and the Humber	+2.9%
11	North West England	+2.8%
12	South West England	+1.8%
13	North East England	-3.2%

Of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ cities, footfall in Cardiff increased last month by 2.8% compared with a year earlier. This was only higher than Belfast (1.6%) and Leeds (0.9%).

TOTAL FOOTFALL BY CITY

GROWTH RANK	CITY	% GROWTH YoY
1	Edinburgh	+29.4%
2	London	+10.0%
3	Nottingham	+8.8%
4	Birmingham	+6.4%
5	Liverpool	+6.2%
6	Manchester	+4.5%
7	Glasgow	+3.3%
8	Bristol	+3.0%
9	Cardiff	+2.8%
10	Belfast	+1.6%
11	Leeds	+0.9%

Footfall to shopping centres declined by 0.4% in April (YoY) in Wales - 5.4 percentage points worse than March.