Liverpool City Region’s Visitor Economy Board is predicting another year of growth ahead for tourism.
The industry is now worth £3.4bn annually and supports almost 46,000 jobs. This figure is set to rise in 2014 to almost £3.8bn with the help of many factors, including new hotel openings – eight opened this year and another five are due to open next, the International Festival for Business taking place throughout June and July, as well as many new and established events and exhibitions.
Forecast, is a 0.5% growth in day visitors to the region, with a 5% increase in staying visitors.
The season gets off to a flying start with Crabbies Grand National Festival from 3-5 April which looks set for a record breaking attendance, and the following month Liverpool hosts its first Rock’n Roll Marathon – with many early registrations and large crowds likely.
The eyes of the world will be on the region when Liverpool hosts the first ever International Festival for Business (IFB) in June and July with at least 80,000 people attending the business events programme and many more enjoying the wrap around cultural programme, which will include popular events such as the Mersey River Festival (13-16 June) and Liverpool Biennial (5 July – 26 October).
There will also be over 150,000 visitors expected for the Open Golf at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake (17 – 20 July), which is expected to generate £75m for the local economy. This is closely followed by the return of the spectacular giants for Memories of August 1914, a World War One commemoration street theatre event from the 23 – 27 July.
Thanks to European funding there are some amazing new exhibitions coming to the city with Mondrian (6 June – 21 September) and Andy Warhol (14 December – February 15) at Tate Liverpool, and Grayson Perry (23 May – 10 August) and John Moores Painting Prize (5 July – 30 November) both at the Walker Art Gallery.
Last year’s inaugural Liverpool International Music Festival will be back in August (15 – 30 August) alongside the ever popular Beatles Week (18 – 24 July). Whist the Philharmonic Hall is being refurbished for much of 2014, the new Everyman will be opening its doors in March.
Outside the IFB 2014, business tourism continues to strengthen. Starting with BBC Worldwide in February, there are also eight major medical conferences in the city including Diabetes UK, Neuro Oncology and British Society for Cerebral Palsy.
Visit Britain are forecasting growth in inbound tourism to the UK of 1.8% in volume and 4.2% in value, and as the fifth most visited destination Liverpool would expect to benefit from this increase.
Chair of the Visitor Economy Board, the destination’s official Tourist Board, Sara Wilde McKeown, said: “2014 promises to be an event packed year for the City Region and a perfect opportunity to showcase our region to a new international business audience. We need to ensure we offer the best possible visitor experience to maximise return visits to the area and ensure a lasting legacy from IFB.”