The UKs leisure business will attract more people by listening to customer feedback online, says a national bank survey. 

Improving how the UK hospitality and leisure sector manages and responds to online customers could contribute an additional £3.2bn to the UK economy over the course of the next decade finds the Barclays Feedback Economy report, as a more customer-responsive sector will attract more visitors, increase spend per head from its customers and have wider supply chain benefits.

In the South West, business owners recognise the value of customer feedback to the success of their business with almost half (48%) able to explicitly credit online customer feedback with increasing trade.

At a national level, over the course of the next decade, a more successful hospitality and leisure sector has the potential to add an extra £2bn to the UK economy with the impact on the sector’s large supply chain contributing a further £1.2bn.

This economic benefit will be achieved by improving how businesses such as hotels, bars, restaurants, travel businesses, health spas, sports clubs and cinemas monitor, manage and respond to customer feedback.

Martin French, Corporate Managing Director for Barclays in the South West, said: "The use of feedback by customers is not only a growing trend, but a potentially incredibly valuable source of information for the business community.

"With 68% of businesses across the South West anticipating that not only will feedback become more important in its own right, but that it will also become more important to manage that feedback, businesses across the region would do well to consider their options and capability now."

Barclays found their survey of those working within the hospitality and leisure industry revealed that overall, TripAdvisor was seen to be the most relevant online feedback site, with 60% of respondents citing the website as being relevant to their business.