28 February 2024 , 20:49
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New tourism data shows Blackpool is now attracting 20 million annual visitors with events such as Christmas by the Sea and the extended Illuminations season playing a huge part.
It comes as a fresh approach focusing on collaboration between the resort's big names such as Merlin and Pleasure Beach is helping drive the town along. The vehicle for this is the Tourism BID (business improvement district) formed in July 2021 out of a need to recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic.
It includes attractions, theatres, hotels and even ice-cream sellers, with businesses both large and small joining forces to share their experience, expertise and enthusiasm to promote Blackpool. Key players include companies who have traded successfully for generations and hoteliers who even amid winter have high occupancy rates.
As one member puts it: "We are not here to compete for our own individual pieces of the pie, but to grow the pie so our individual pieces are bigger." Kate Shane, regional director for Merlin which operates Blackpool attractions on behalf of the council including The Tower and Sandcastle Waterpark, as well as brands such as Madame Tussauds and the Sea Life Centre, chairs the Tourism BID (TBID) management group.
She said: "It's the first time we have had each of the elements of the tourism sector represented in one group where we have an absolute shared objective and desire to make sure Blackpool retains its number one spot as a seaside destination." The strategy has seen the launch of events such as Christmas by the Sea which attracts more than six million visitors, while the TBID also worked with the council on events to celebrate the King's Coronation which saw Blackpool Tower feature on the BBC's Lighting Up The Nation.
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Plans for this year include putting the town in the spotlight as the UK Capital of Dance in June and July. The TBID has also supported marketing campaigns such as the Nigel C Gull TV advert. Choice Hotels operates three hotels in Blackpool the Claremont, Cliffs and Viking and two in the Lake District, employing 400 people with 1,800 guests a week. It says it is 90 per cent full all year round.
James Cox, director of marketing at Blackpool Pleasure Beach said: "We are one of the biggest levy-payers so cast one of the biggest votes so it's important to have a voice around that table. Ultimately if Blackpool is successful, then we in turn will be successful. We are the number one reason people visit Blackpool, so it's important for us to support other businesses and guide the marketing of Blackpool."
Luca Vettesse, from Notarianni Ice Cream, Waterloo Road, is the fourth generation of a business which has been in Blackpool for 96 years. Luca said: "I think one of the reasons we got asked onto the board is the family has traded for so long in Blackpool. We have taken the business into the modern era while keeping the tradition of the brand."