Vital city centres 2024 - results available for Bocholt

What does the future of German city centres look like and what do city centre visitors want from their city centres? These questions form the basis of the nationwide survey "Vitale Innenstädte 2024", which the Cologne Institute for Retail Research (IFH) conducted for the sixth time in 107 city centres in Germany in autumn 2024. The results are particularly interesting for Bocholt, as Stadtmarketing Bocholt has been involved since the first year of the survey. This means that some of the results are also available as a time series and provide information on developments.

Bocholt city centre overall score

The overall score for Bocholt's city centre has improved compared to all five previous surveys from 2014-2022 and now stands at an even 2.0 (previous years 2.3-2.7). Visitors to the city centre were particularly positive in their assessment of the overall attractiveness of the retail offer, the bicycle, pedestrian and car friendliness including parking facilities, the range of restaurants, services, buildings, green spaces, cleanliness, the attractiveness for tourists and the experience value as well as the liveliness of the city. This makes Bocholt one of the top performers among medium-sized cities with 50,000 to 200,000 inhabitants in the overall IFH City Centre Study 2024. The overall average of all 107 cities surveyed is 2.5.

Reasons for visiting - shopping still in first place

The question about the reasons why city centre visitors visit is interesting: 81% of respondents come to shop, 31% come to visit restaurants and for 13%, a visit to the authorities, work or education or a visit to the doctor is the reason for their trip to the city. Multiple answers were possible here. It is striking that shopping in Bocholt is a far more frequent reason for a visit to the city than the average for the town (63%). The "living" area, on the other hand, only plays a subordinate role with around 6% in Bocholt compared to just under 23% in the local average.

Time series

Looking at the time series (2020 - 2022 - 2024), it is noticeable that the frequency of shopping is decreasing. While in 2020, a good 80% of respondents went shopping in the city centre on a daily or weekly basis, in 2024 this figure had fallen to around 44%. If we now compare this finding with the frequency figures for the city centre as such (which have remained stable; => frequency measurements - in Bocholt's city centre streets), we come to the conclusion that more people are visiting the city centre than in previous years. GfK's centrality indicators also speak in favour of this positive influx of visitors (=> conclusion for Bocholt).

Length of stay

If visitors are asked about their expected length of stay in the city centre, this is noticeably short. An above-average number of people (33%) visit the city centre for less than an hour, both in comparison with the 2022 survey and in comparison with the local average. However, when looking at the days visited during the week and at the weekend separately, it can be seen that visits to the city centre on a Saturday are generally longer than on Thursdays.

Future requirements for the city centre - measures

When asked which measures should be taken in Bocholt to make the city centre more attractive for visitors, the improvement of public transport (35% compared to 28%) as well as more events and open Sundays (36% compared to 18%) were mentioned more frequently than the local average. In contrast, respondents in Bocholt considered measures to combat vacancies or brownfield sites (19%) to be less necessary than the average for the town (44%).

Additional questions - sources of information/shopping towns in the neighbourhood

The two additional questions, which were asked individually for Bocholt, related on the one hand to obtaining information about events/news in the city centre and on the other hand to preferred shopping towns in the immediate vicinity.

Almost half of all respondents stated that they obtain information about events in the city centre via the city of Bocholt's website, followed by the daily newspaper (37%) and social media (36%).

Of the surrounding cities, Kleve and Winterswijk are the favourite cities for shopping.

Frequency measurements - in Bocholt's city centre streets

The laser scanners installed by City Marketing in 2020 and expanded in 2023 to measure footfall also confirm a stable to slightly positive trend in visitor frequency. In addition, a more precise analysis of the impact of events and city centre development measures is possible.

Almost 4 million visitors came to the city centre in 2024. This means that visitor numbers are slightly above the level of the two previous years. The detailed analysis of the frequency measurements shows that particularly busy days are often associated with larger city centre events. The peak figures for 2024 included the "Bocholt Blüht" Sunday open for business on 28 April with 27,736 passers-by on Neustraße, the City Food Festival in September (26,797 passers-by on Neustraße) and the "Lichtersonntag" Sunday open for business in November.

Conclusion for Bocholt

If we add the latest centrality figures from the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) for Bocholt (2024: 108.3 compared to 2023: 104.3 and 2022: 101.1) to the insights gained here, we can see that there is a cautious upward trend for Bocholt city centre as a place to shop and experience. An analysis by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) North on pedestrian frequencies in autumn 2024 also came to the conclusion that Bocholt is the front-runner in Münsterland with an average of more than 1,900 pedestrians per hour on Neustraße on Saturdays.

The city centre has an experience factor that needs to be further optimised. Opportunities for improvement must be taken and implemented, for example with regard to the number of shops, vacancies in the rear areas of the pedestrian zones, in the area of daytime catering and in extending the length of stay, and yet the survey of 604 randomly selected people in "Vitale Innenstädte" as well as the figures from GfK and the frequency measurements show that the city centre is still - or once again - a place of encounter, a place of (experiencing) life. This must be further developed in order to continue to make Bocholt attractive for Bocholt residents and visitors from the surrounding area, to recognise and accept the challenges and to tackle them with suitable measures. The empirical data presented here provides an up-to-date basis for the classification of Bocholt's city centre as a whole, but also for the individual adjustments to be made.

Background - nationwide study

In 107 German cities of all sizes and regions, city centre visitors were asked about their shopping habits and the attractiveness of the city centre - including Bocholt. The data was collected from September to November 2024 using a standardised questionnaire. A total of around 68,500 interviews were collected. The aim of the survey is to provide partners in retail and administration with urgently needed information about the positioning of their city from the perspective of visitors as a basis for planning location-specific measures. The study provides both general results on the attractiveness of city centres and the demands of city centre visitors on the city centres of the future as well as specific findings on individual German cities of all sizes and regions.

Broken down by city size - based on the number of inhabitants - a total of 39 cities took part in the size category of 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants, and a total of 22 cities in the size category of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants (including Bocholt). In addition to Bocholt, Emsdetten, Ibbenbüren and Lengerich also took part from the Münsterland region.

The study was supported by the Bundesvereinigung City- und Stadtmarketing Deutschland e.V. (bcsd), the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the German Retail Association (HDE) and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB).