South Downs Visitor Accommodation Review
The SDNPA commissioned Hotel Solutions and Tomorrow’s Tourism to carry out a review of visitor accommodation in the South Downs National Park in 2014 and 2025, respectively.
The 2025 South Downs Visitor Accommodation Review – prepared by Tomorrow’s Tourism – will be used to support the preparation of both the South Downs Partnership Management Plan and the New South Downs Local Plan.
- 2014 South Downs Visitor Accommodation Review.
- 2025 South Downs Visitor Accommodation Review.
- 2025 South Downs Accommodation Audit and Market Review.
The 2025 Review:
- Considers the national, regional and local context;
- Distinguishes between the Tourism Economy and Sharing Economy*;
- Analyses the latest visitor accommodation trends;
- Includes an audit of the quantity and type of visitor accommodation across the South Downs National Park; and
- Analyses current performance of a sample of visitor accommodation providers operating across the South Downs National Park.
As of 2025, there are 2,216 establishments – across both the Tourism and Sharing Economies – in the South Downs National Park offering 7,203 rooms or pitches, with up to 19,057 bedspaces. This is over double the number of bedspaces compared to the findings of the 2014 Review.
* In terms of the Tourism Economy, this reflects the professional sector and includes accommodation that is usually run by a business – i.e., bed and breakfast, camping, caravaning, glamping, guesthouses, holiday parks, hostels, hotels, inn, and pubs etc. As for the Sharing Economy, this reflects less formal operations which are not usually operated by businesses – i.e., a property owner who may advertise their property through channels such as Airbnb or Vrbo etc.