A study of all the check-ins at the top 50 UK attractions have found that while 955,437 check-ins originated from Facebook Places just 176,724 came from Foursquare.

Published: 02 Sep 2011

A study of all the check-ins at the top 50 UK attractions have found that while 955,437 check-ins originated from Facebook Places just 176,724 came from Foursquare.

As per the information available, this data is from VisitBritain’s Love UK Facebook campaign and it uses all the check-ins at UK attractions since November last year. According to a report filed by nma.co.uk, Betapond, the agency that developed the Love UK Top 50 Places app, said that the data showed that Facebook was by far the check-in method of choice for the mainstream web audience.

The report shared that during the period of the campaign the Love UK page has gained over 450,000 Likes and helped to accumulate over 1m check-ins at the top 50 UK attractions. The top UK attraction is currently The O2 stadium with 72,817 Facebook check-ins and 7764 check-ins on Foursquare.

Declan Kennedy, CEO of Betapond, said, “There is a huge disparity but it looks like it skews in favour of Facebook for venues that are very mainstream and down the middle, but if it is a more funky venue Foursquare catches up.”

New app for visitors

Recently, Britain’s national tourism agency VisitBritain shared that nearly 20 million overseas visitors used a mobile phone when in the UK during 2010.

The findings were revealed as the agency launched its new UK Top50 places app. The app will allow visitors to check-in to their most popular British attractions through Facebook, find out what is near them to see and do, discover what’s hot and secure great value deals while they’re in the country.

Justin Reid, Head of Online at VisitBritain said: “It is clear with the advances in technology and the ever increasing demand for mobile phone usage abroad that there is a demand to get tourists to top attractions across Britain in a creative and fun way – our UK Top50 app does exactly that.”

Meanwhile, research by VisitBritain to find out the types of activities that visitors had undertaken during their time in the UK showed 60 percent of tourists visiting for holiday or pleasure purposes had used a mobile phone at least once during their stay, with a vast majority of business visitors also using a mobile phone while in the country.