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TOURISTS
Commuters
Tourism is a growing economic sector in London despite the
country’s gloomy financial context. Thanks to recent high profile
event (Olympics, Paralympics etc) London was awarded most
visited city in the world (*6).
The Topshop Village, although scheduled to take place on a
Sunday, will most likely interfere with commuters’ activities in
Central London. For such reasons, commuters will have the
option to join the Village or to utilize alternative routes to main
underground stations to avoid the large crowd expected on the
Piazza. The Topshop Village installations will include footbridges
over the catwalk tunnel to allow commuters in a hurry to reach
their destination in time by bypassing the crowd
Covent Garden actively participates to the tourism activity of
the capital and stands as 4th most visited tourist attraction in
London (*7). French, North American and German visitors are
ranked as the top 3 nationalities to visit London (*8).
The age and background of the tourists visiting Covent Garden
are difficult to evaluate. Some will visit with families, other with
partners or friends. All components used to evaluate such ratio
vary day by day and are therefore impossible to predict.
Tourists planning to visit the area of Covent Garden on the
13th of September 2015 will be greeted by the impressive
installations of the Topshop Village. It is expected that a majority of these tourists will browse the Topshop Village for a limited
amount of time to fulfil a sense of curiosity before moving on to
the rest of their scheduled activities.
The Topshop Village will offer a memorable souvenir to foreign
visitors who will have the chance to live a unique moment of
British fashion celebration in a historical landmark of London.
Additionally, the event will raise awareness onto Topshop, a
brand less common to foreigners, as less represented on the
international retail market (*9).
Commuters’ backgrounds in this area of London are varied and
include workers from the retail, business and creative industries. It is difficult to evaluate the exact ratio of commuters who
will stop at the Topshop Village. However, Sunday being a day
for relaxation and wandering, it is predictable that a significant
number of them will take time out their schedules tp participate
to the happening of the event and contribute to its promotion
via social media where they will share their unexpected experience in Covent Garden before or after reaching their work
places.