According to the latest national tourism statistics Liverpool is now the 5th most-visited city in the UK for both overseas and British visitors.
Liverpool had previously been the 8th most visited English city for British tourists, but in 2013 there were 1,678,000 overnight trips, a 14% increase from 2012. These visitors spent £284m, an average of £169 per person.
Overseas visitors made 562,000 overnight trips in 2013 – a 2.2% rise on 2012 with Liverpool holding on to its 5th place in the UK rankings which it has held for a number of years. Across the City Region as a whole there were 624,000 overseas overnight trips, with these visitors spending £252m, an average of £404 per person.
Broken down further, the statistics for overseas visitors show that Liverpool has risen to 5th most popular city for business trips, and is 4th most popular for ‘other’ trips which covers special events and football.
These latest statistics come from Visit Britain and Visit England.
Sara Wilde McKeown, Chair of the Liverpool City Region’s Visitor Economy Board, said: “As our Visitor Economy continues to thrive, these figures underline the appeal and popularity of our destination offer and shows the enormous effort and investment made by businesses in the tourism sector.
“As a city we have so much to offer when it comes to sights and attractions, as well as our diverse events programme, and it is particularly pleasing to see a growth in business trips which reflects a growing conference market.”
Other key tourism facts from 2013 were:
Liverpool Hotel occupancy averaged 71.4%
1.3 million hotel room nights were sold in Liverpool
Liverpool One, recorded a footfall of over 26m people in 2013 – this is 5% up on 2012