Despite uncertain times in the lead up to the festive season, Bournemouth’s Christmas Tree Wonderland has been hailed a resounding success, with hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to marvel at the illuminating displays lighting up the night sky from 19 November to 2 January.

In the Lower Gardens, nearly 600,000 visitors walked through the Christmas trail, with footfall up threefold from the beginning of November. Over the busiest weekends, Christmas Tree Wonderland welcomed over 32,000 to the Lower Gardens to walk through the trail and enjoy all the dazzling lights as well as sampling the other festive treats on offer, which included the Christmas Markets, Alpine Bar and SKATE ice-rink.

This popular attraction which is now in its third year (following Christmas cancellations in 2020), helps to raise the profile of the destination and attract visitors to the town centre with footfall up by 25 per cent on average over Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the whole period.

Cllr Beverley Dunlop, portfolio holder for Culture and Vibrant Places, BCP Council said: “We are immensely proud of how well Christmas Tree Wonderland 2021 has been received despite the challenges that Covid-19 has once again bought to the forefront. Bournemouth has established itself firmly as an exciting Christmas destination and this shows in the number of visitors flocking to our area over the Christmas period to immerse themselves in all the festivities.

“An incredible amount of work goes into creating the Christmas displays and all the associated festive offerings, so my thanks go out to everyone who has played a part in bringing Christmas back to Bournemouth and making it such a success this year.”

New in 2021 was a giant Santa display, a walk-through bauble and a 10 metre colour changing tree, as well as many other stunning light exhibits.

Christmas Tree Wonderland 2021 was made possible through a partnership between BCP Council alongside Bournemouth’s Town Centre and Coastal BIDS, with continued support from Yellow Buses, South Western Railway, PayByPhone and new this year, CHASE the digital bank.