The Royal Pavilion Palace Brighton impact values perceptions

The Royal Pavilion Palace, Brighton: impact, values, perceptions and strategy Babak Sodagar, Jaime Kaminski and Jim Mc. Loughlin Brighton Business School CUBIST Research Group 1

How did we get here? • Difficulties of measuring ‘real’ impact of cultural heritage sites because of …. • Directing our efforts towards impact areas which were perceived as most significant • Use of key respondent interviews to establish the most important impacts • In terms of the Pavilion the most significant impact on the city was deemed to be a collection of impacts which for want of a better word we call ‘iconic’ 2

The study It was necessary to compare the key respondents perceptions of the ‘iconic’ value of the Pavilion to that of the public and visitors of Brighton, especially in relation to the economy of the city. A survey was conducted: • Seven survey sites across the city 3

Seven collection sites 4

Survey • Equally divided between visitors and residents • Between March and June 2006 • Over 600 respondents • Research is ongoing 5

Visitor intentions 6

Visitor activity intention • Our findings show shopping to be the most stated activity (57%) • Followed by visiting the Pier (40%) and the beach (35%) • 12% of the respondents said they intended to visit a museum or gallery 7

Perceptions of Brighton 8

Perceptions of Brighton • The reason we asked this question was to find out the degree with which the respondents associated Brighton with the Pavilion 9

Have visitors heard of the Pavilion? 10

To what extent do you associate Brighton with the Pavilion? 11

Associations • 34% of the visitors made a significant association between the Pavilion and Brighton 12

Has your visit to Brighton been influenced by your wish to see the Pavilion? 13

Initial estimate of the contribution to the tourist economy • 4% of the tourist economy = £ 17. 2 million direct contribution • If we include those whose visit was ‘much’ (9%) influenced by the wish to see the Pavilion the proportion is 13% = £ 55. 9 million £ 430 million estimated tourist expenditure for 2006 Brighton and Hove Council visitor data 14

Residents perceptions 15

The Pavilion makes an important contribution to the City’s economy 16

The Pavilion is an important part of the image of the City 17

How strong do you feel the impact of the Pavilion is on the City? 18

The Pavilion is a nationally important historical site 19

What is the Pavilion’s most important function? 20

What do you associate the Pavilion with? 21

Valuing the Pavilion • Residents values for the Pavilion were assessed. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used. Two techniques were used: – Willingness to Pay (WTP) – Willingness to Accept (WTA) Today we will look at Willingness to Pay 22

Why CVM? • A means of elucidating the ‘total economic value’ for individuals – i. e. bequest values, option values, non-use values • Widely used • Possibility for comparison 23

What is CVM? • A questionnaire-based valuation • The respondent is presented with a hypothetic situation • They are then asked to place a monetary value on that situation, using either: – WTP – WTA 24

The Brighton survey • Using derivatives of the Museums and Library Association (MLA) valuation questions from the Bolton survey • Heavy emphasis was placed on not ‘leading’ the respondents – these are conservative results 25

Results for the residents • 307 respondents were residents • 45% (138) had visited the Pavilion in the last 2 years (Users), 55% (169) had not • 58% had visited the Pavilion in their lifetime and 42% had not • 297 responses used for CVM 26

The question At the moment the Royal Pavilion is funded in part using revenue funding from Brighton and Hove City Council. If the revenue support ended would you be willing to make a contribution to continue the services provided by the Royal Pavilion? We stress that we are trying to determine what you think the Royal Pavilion is worth – there is no intention to remove public funding. 27

Calculating WTP Overall Willingness to Pay (WTP) • WTP = £ 3. 67 per user per month = £ 44. 04 per user per annum • WTP = £ 1. 42 per non-user per month = £ 17. 04 per non-user per month 28

Calculating WTP The population of Brighton over the age of 15 = 208, 985 (UK Census Data 2001) Estimated number of Brighton residents that have visited the Pavilion = 58% of 208, 985 User value is: = 121, 162 x £ 44. 04 = £ 5, 335, 974 Non-users value is: 87, 823 x £ 17. 04 = £ 1, 496, 503 = £ 6, 632, 477 for the population of Brighton 29

Total Values • Brighton resident’s annual WTP values for the Royal Pavilion Users Non-users TOTAL VALUE 5, 335, 974 1, 496, 503 6, 632, 477 30

WTP and age 31

Strategic questions • Do we attempt to engage the 16 -25 age group? • If so how? – Technology? – Education at an earlier age? • Should money be devoted to valuation studies when funding is needed for core functions? 32

Questions? 33

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