Car park income fell by 13 percent at the North York Moors National Park in the first quarter of the current financial year.
The drop in visitor numbers in the three months to June had a knock on effect on other income streams.
Chief Finance Officer - Pete Williams - says they expect the numbers to have rebounded over the summer.
The North York Moors National park saw a £35,000 drop in it's car park income in the first three months of the year.
The Authority says the poor weather led to a drop in visitor numbers that also affected sales from its shops and cafes, overall retail sales were £18,000 lower than expected at £51,000.
Authority Member David Jeffels thinks the numbers could have been worse.
A report presented to Authority Members stated:
"Car parking income is currently 13% below budget at the end of June. Easter falling partly in March 2024 and the weather had a particularly big impact on April numbers as well as May. June however has showed some recovery and the impacts of the new play area at Danby Lodge should start to be seen over the summer. There has been an increase in budget this year catering for increased footfall and expansion to the car park at Newton-under-Roseberry. It is worth noting however that income is only £10k below last year’s position at the end of June which did show recovery over the remainder of the year."
Chop Gate car park was the only one of the authority's car parks to achieve over it's budgeted performance in the three months to June although that location continues to be the only car park which makes a loss overall to operate.
The lower than expected number of car park users had a knock on effect for the Authority's shops. The report stated:
"Visitor Centre retail sales income at both centres continues to run lower than budget continuing the issue in 2023/24. Whilst some of this is in relation to footfall numbers and Easter straddling two months, a full review of retail operations is underway and actions have already been identified for implementation over the next 12 months. This includes enhanced reporting, producing a framework for product selection, exploring new opportunities, visitor surveys, reduction in old stock, focus on margins and benchmarking with other National Parks. This will all help to feed a new retail strategy."
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