Growth of £100m anticipated for Merseyside tourism

AN action plan has been drawn up to help Merseyside’s tourism industry grow by £100m to £1.4bn by 2012 while simultaneously creating 2,000 new jobs.

The report entitled ‘Liverpool City Region’s Visitor Economy 3-year action plan’ suggests that these ambitious targets can be met by establishing 10 new hotels and increasing the number of major events staged.

But it also highlights the need for the city to establish a five star hotel, more backpacker accommodation and a touring camping and caravan site close to city.

Additionally, it details how the city region needs increased city centre townhouse accommodation, more animated water spaces and further investment in its gateway points.

The plan – which has been published by The Mersey Partnership (TMP) – is intended to help the tourism industry grow to support 37,000 jobs with a visitor spend of £2bn by 2020. The economy is currently worth £1.3bn and supports 23,000 jobs.

The report identifies Liverpool as the leading ‘attack brand’ with Southport and England’s ‘golf coast’ forming a further two leading ‘destination brands’.

It states that culture and heritage – with the planned opening of Liverpool Museum next year – will be at the heart of destination marketing activity.

Other major ‘planned’ capital investments for Liverpool City centre over the next three years include: the expansion of the Philharmonic Hall; the relocation of Open Eye; the landing stage for New Mersey Ferries; and the Central Library redevelopment.

The report also highlights the need for the city to increasingly be promoted as a venue for conferences and other events – of both national and international significance.

TMP’s visitor economy committee chair and Liverpool Football Club commercial director Ian Ayre, said that this growth of ‘business tourism’ remains a priority if targets are to be met.

He said: “This plan sets out a number of key priorities, activities and projects that stakeholders collectively feel offer the best prospects to increase the competitiveness of our city region and maximise the wealth that the tourism sector can create.

“By working together to implement the actions and exploit the opportunities identified in the plan we can ensure our visitor economy continues to grow from strength to strength.”

David Andrews, TMP’s director of visitor economy, said: “The visitor economy is well placed to face the challenging times ahead as public sector funding reduces.

“This destination management plan sets out a rolling three-year programme of tourism priorities and actions to grow the sector.

“We are confident these targets can be achieved, despite cuts, and in order to do so we will continue to work even more collaboratively with our members and partners in the public and private sectors to take things forward.”
 
TMP Chief Executive Lorraine Rogers said: “The visitor economy is a significant sector for the city region – not just because of everything it brings to the quality of life and profile of the area but because it’s a major economic driver.

“The sector has already been transformed in recent years but if we’re going to fill the hotel rooms, the restaurants, the shops, the venues, the museums, the inbound planes, we need to focus on the next level of transformation.”