Culture year increased Liverpool city region tourism spend by £200m
Liverpool's year as Capital of Culture saw visitor spend in the city region rise by £200m to £1.6bn, new analysis has revealed.
And the big winners were not just Liverpool, but surrounding areas like Wirral as well.
Tourism body The Mersey Partnership says the analysis shows the region is well on course for its target of a £2bn tourism economy by 2020.
The STEAM figures (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor), released today, show Wirral’s economy saw a massive 12% increase in tourism in 2008’s Culture Year, bringing in an extra £26m to the borough.
TMP chief executive Lorraine Rogers said: “These new figures not only illustrate the massive success of tourism in Liverpool in 2008, but also the importance of the industry to our local economy. It’s encouraging that all of our region’s districts experienced a rise in the overall value of tourism in their areas.”
The value of tourism to Liverpool’s economy rose by 25% during 2008, generating a total spend of £617m, up from £493m in 2007.
Knowsley, Halton, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral also experienced a rise.
The total number of visits to the city region rose from 63m to 75m, with day visitors up by 20% and hotel visits also up by 6%.
Cllr Laurence Sidorczuk, Liverpool’s assistant executive member for Enterprise and Tourism, said: “Before the Capital of Culture year we forecast, in our bid document, spending growth in the tourism sector of 10%. To have a 25% rise demonstrates what a phenomenal success the year was. Our challenge now is to build on that success in the coming years, and I am sure we will rise to that challenge.”
The number of jobs supported by visitor businesses increased by 11% in Liverpool, to 8,521.
Nick Brooks-Sykes, director of tourism at the Northwest Regional Development Agency, said: “These figures underline the significance of tourism to the North-West’s economy; this is one of our most important industries, worth more than £14bn across the region, and it is vital that we continue to support it.
“Liverpool has transformed itself into one of the UK’s top visitor destinations, but there is no room for complacency.
“We must now maintain the momentum and continue to improve our offer if the city is to compete at an international level.”
Overall, tourism now supports a total of 22,640 jobs across the City Region.
The total revenue of Wirral’s tourism industry in 2008 was £235m, an increase of 12% from 2007, and a rise of 35% in the last five years.
Wirral Council leader, Cllr Steve Foulkes said: “These figures are fantastic news for Wirral and are reward for all of the hard work the council and its partners have been doing to drive forward Wirral’s tourism offer in the last five years.”
The figures are a major boost for the borough as it prepares to launch its Year of Food 2010, which will include the ever-popular Wirral Food and Drink Festival and culminate in a Gourmet Food Fayre at Port Sunlight at the end of the year.
Wirral is also planning to host an international golf championship this year with 300 of the top amateur players trying out the borough’s best courses. The five-day championship next September is part of a major tourism and marketing campaign designed to attract ever more visitors.
Cllr Foulkes said: “A 35% increase in tourism revenue shows we have built on the opportunity provided to us by The Open in 2006, and have developed our coast and countryside branding to capitalise on our increased profile.”
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