Pioneering partnership for tourism sector in Liverpool City Region – Birkenhead News

The world’s eyes on Liverpool during Eurovision underlined the importance of the visitor economy to the city and the region as a whole.

Now 12 months on, in a bid to build on the success of the continental song contest, the six local authority areas of the Liverpool City Region are coming together to create a unique cultural offering.

A 15-strong team of industry experts from the worlds of sport, film, music, hospitality and leisure is to form a new board to outline a five-year plan to boost the region’s credentials as one of Europe’s premier event capitals.

The new body is to be chaired by Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, former director-general of the BBC and former chief executive of the Royal Opera House.

Around 60 million people come to the area each year to enjoy its cultural, musical and sporting attractions. Earlier this year, Time Out magazine recognized the area’s strengths, naming Liverpool as the seventh best city in the world, ahead of Tokyo, Rome and Paris.

As a nationally recognized official body, the partnership will provide strong leadership and management of the region’s visitor economy and work in collaboration with the public and private sectors.

Due to the importance of the visitor economy and its influence on the overall economic success of the Liverpool City Region, board members will support the growth of the visitor economy sector; the politics of influence; work to boost overall economic growth, productivity and competitiveness; and to support the Liverpool City Region in its overall aim of inclusive growth and sustainability.

Although not yet officially named, the new body will initially be known as the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) and will work to boost the city region’s £5 billion a year visitor economy, which employs around 51,000 people .

Lord Hall, chairman of the board, said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to return to my roots and play a part in promoting this incredible region which has so much to offer visitors. I am proud and honored to lead a very high quality council that represents the diversity of the sector and the city region.

“I look forward to meeting them and working together to bring even more people to this wonderful city and region.”

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “The Liverpool City Region is a national and international destination of choice, renowned for its unbeatable culture, music, sport, hospitality and much, much more. In the past year alone, we’ve completely transformed an event as iconic as Eurovision – and welcomed global golfing superstars to the 151st edition of The Open at Hoylake.

“This is in addition to the Grand National, two Premier League football teams and the most successful Super League team in the country finding our area home. We are not here to rest on our laurels and it is all about ambition; we want to go from strength to strength and partnership is the key to that.

“That’s why I’ve committed to doubling support for culture to 2% of our budget to build on our achievements. Due to our recent success, we were able to attract someone of Tony’s caliber to help turbocharge this work over the next few years.

“We’re already Britain’s capital of culture, but watch out because we’re just getting started.”

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