Liverpool City Region’s Tourist Board has released figures showing a huge upsurge in interest in the destination following the recent television advertising campaign.
The encouraging statistics released by Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (Liverpool LEP) – Tourist Board for the destination – are the latest boost for the region, and come in the same week during which Liverpool welcomed its first cruise turnaround passengers and the Olympic Torch Relay visited Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral.
The Liverpool specific 10-second advert ran for one month and featured the iconic Liverpool skyline, St George’s Hall and Museum of Liverpool – as a way of introducing people to the destination, highlighting the destination’s culture and heritage offer through classic and contemporary landmarks and attractions.
The call to action on the Liverpool advert was to the official destination website, http://www.visitliverpool.com/. The campaign’s success was also reflected through VisitLiverpool’s social media channels on Facebook and Twitter, which almost doubled their reach. There is also a number of ‘money can’t buy prizes’ which run until December.
The Liverpool advert was broadcast in terrestrial areas outside of the Granada region to maximise interest further afield, and was also shown on a number of digital channels – totalling over 2,000 screenings in total. The ad is also available to view online on http://www.visitliverpool.com/
The campaign was part of the wider VisitEngland’s GREAT 2012 national TV ad campaign, in which Liverpool was the only City Region outside of London to be featured in the feature length adverts which were broadcast for two months.
VE’s campaign also included the GREAT 2012 Offers activity, which runs until December and invited Visitor Economy businesses to get involved by uploading special offers to encourage people to visit the destination.
These are the findings following 54 days of campaign activity:
Website visits: Total visits measure 500,000 / 120% increase in web traffic
Facebook: ‘Likes’ increased by 40%
Twitter: ‘Followers’ increased by 40%
Competition entries: Over 5,000 entries to date
Ad views online: Over 100,000 views of the 10-second ad on VisiLiverpool.com
Duncan Frazer, Marketing and Commercial Director for Liverpool LEP, commented: “The impact of the TV advert campaign has been phenomenal, we are thrilled with the results. Television advertising is a powerful tool and we are delighted that we have been able to be part of the wider VisitEngland national TV ad campaign, strengthened further by our own Liverpool specific advert.
“We felt it was important to show some of our key assets – and this definitely struck a chord with audiences and changing people’s perceptions. The upsurge in interest in the destination shows that the advert is attracting new visitors or possibly those who have not visited the destination for a long time and are keen to rediscover all we have to offer – and they certainly won’t be disappointed.
“As the Tourist Board, we are continuing to work hard to keep this momentum going and we are able to do so by working in partnership and with the support of our Member across Liverpool City Region.”
The news follows three other announcements of positive news for the destination:
Trip Advisor travellers have voted Liverpool as the 3rd best UK destination, following only the capital cities of London and Edinburgh;
Liverpool is now in the Top 5 UK destinations for overseas visitors, according to data from the International Passenger Survey (following London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham) – the original target of 2020 has now been achieved;
Liverpool has been named Coach Friendly Town/City Of The Year 2012 at the Coach Tourism Awards, organised by trade magazine Coach Monthly.
Liverpool City Region’s Visitor Economy is a thriving industry which generates visitor spend of £3billion a year and is estimated to support 42,300 jobs. Figures show that in 2010, an estimated 54.5 million visitor trips were made to Liverpool City Region – this comprised 4.4 million staying visitors and 50.1 million day visitors.
The destination’s Visitor Economy is now gearing up for the Liverpool City Region Annual Tourism Awards 2012 – which take place this Thursday (14 June).
The celebration event, which is being held at the BT Convention Centre, marks the achievements and tireless work across the tourism sector.
There are 16 categories covering all areas within the industry, including attractions, hotels, bars and restaurants, customer service and business tourism. The areas of Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, St.Helens and Knowsley are all represented on the shortlist. Find out more at http://www.visitliverpool.com/liverpool-city-region-tourism-awards