£2.1m for Liverpool tourism

LIVERPOOL City Region’s local enterprise partnership (LEP) has secured £2.15m from Europe to support tourism in the city.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant will support campaigns and specific events over the next two years.

It will fund business tourism campaigns, overseas marketing and the “England’s Golf Coast” campaign.

The money will also go to events such as the Liverpool International Music Festival; the cultural Programme around the International Festival For Business; the Open Golf Championship, Wirral; a First World War commemorative event, St Helens; and the Wirral Food and Drink Festival.

Head of visitor economy development at the LEP, Pam Wilsher, said: “Our visitor economy already supports more than 43,000 local jobs and attracts 55 million visitors annually, generating an economic impact of more than £3bn. This extra financial support announced today represents the successful outcome to an important bid by the LEP on behalf of some of its members and partners.

“The new programme will deliver growth across the sector. We estimate an additional 870,000 overnight visitors and 1.68 million day visitors generating additional visitor spend of £203m during the course of the programme.”

Cllr Phil Davies, Merseyside representative on the ERDF local management committee, said: “ERDF funding is geared towards boosting economic growth, supporting local businesses and creating local jobs – this place marketing project will deliver on all three of these fronts. The Liverpool City Region has a world class tourism product and we are pleased to be working with our partners at the local LEP to attract additional visitors to the area.”