Manchester honours tourism stars
MANCHESTER’S £5.8bn tourism sector has recognised the star contributors of the past 12 months at an awards event last night.
Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester told guests at the Lowry Arts Centre that tourism supports the equivalent of 77,000 full time jobs in the city region, which underlines the sector’s importance.
He said the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics meant the UK had received an “unprecedented level of global publicity” this year, while closer to home, one of the stand out events for Manchester was the opening of the National Football Museum at Urbis.
The winners included Manchester Central – which took the Business Tourism Award – a sub-sector which in economic terms is worth £822m to Greater Manchester’s economy every year.
The Trafford Centre – which lures 30 million people through its doors a year – was named Large Retailer of the Year, while the 5-star Lowry Hotel won the Hotel of the Year title, after scoring 99% during a ‘mystery shopper’ visit.
The John Rylands Library on Deansgate and the Manchester International Festival were the Large Visitor Attraction and Large Event of the Year award winners respectively.
More than 300 guests were treated to a live preview from the cast of the Lion King – the musical which opens for a three month run at the Palace Theatre on December 1.
