Mathew Street Festival generated £20m for city businesses
The Mathew Street Festival generated an additional £20m for city businesses in 2010 – £5m more than the year before.
Visitors to the August Bank Holiday weekend festival increased by 20,000, to 320,000.
Liverpool council said the figures proved that cultural events were playing their part in helping the city cope with the economic downturn and that the city’s year as Capital of Culture in 2008 had been a springboard to greater things.
The research also showed that, despite tough economic times, visitors spent an average £57.25 during their stay in 2010, compared to £53 in 2009.
The figures also show that 12.6% of visitors to events were from outside the city, compared to 11.7% in 2009.
Africa Oye attracted 50,000 visitors last year – double the number in 2009.
The celebration of African culture brought in £1.3m to the city’s economy.
On the Waterfront attracted more than 65,000 people and brought in £1.2m to Liverpool.
The Picasso exhibition at the Tate Gallery was enjoyed by more than 95,000.
Of those, 74% were from outside the Liverpool region, and 21,000 had never visited the city before.
Liverpool council’s cabinet member for culture and tourism, Cllr Wendy Simon, said: “These figures are fantastic and show that, despite the fact that money is tight, culture continues to play an important part in people’s lives, and if we can deliver events and festivals which inspire them, they will continue to come and spend money in the city.
“Many people thought there would be a post-08 slump, but we’ve shown that the city’s economy continues to benefit by millions of pounds because of the high-calibre events which we put on throughout the year.
“Culture remains as important as ever and this is reflected in this year’s impressive events programme which will not only see the city hosting the Liverpool Boat Show, but also the return of the much-loved Mersey River Festival.”
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