Alistair Houghton reports on the views of experts who believe that Capital of Culture success is crucial
THE Mathew Street Festival fiasco must not be allowed to overshadow next year’s Capital of Culture celebrations – that’s the message from economic experts and business leaders who fear the confusion over this month’s events may have brought more bad publicity to the city.
They have told the Daily Post they estimate the confusion over the festival, which was first cancelled and then brought back to life, could already have cost the city at least £1m in lost revenues.
Some even fear the recent confusion and uncertainty could have an effect on Capital of Culture year and beyond as potential visitors are put off by fears the year may not go according to plan.
But all agree that if Capital of Culture gets off to a flying start then the Mathew Street blip can be forgotten and the city can expect more investment and growth.
Capital of Culture year is seen by many as a chance to transform Liverpool’s image and change negative perceptions of Merseyside, boosting visitor numbers and levels of investment.
In part, that transformation has already started.
The University of Liverpool’s Impacts 08 scheme, set up to monitor the social, cultural, economic and environmental impact of Capital of Culture, produced a report in March to show how winning the title had affected perceptions of the city.
It said: “The nomination of European Capital of Culture has had some short to medium-term impact on the city’s image, at a local as well as a national level. In 2003, national papers produced four times more positive stories about Liverpool’s culture and arts scene than was the case in 1996.”
It added: “Nationally, the Liverpool ECoC is mainly associated with the wider city’s renaissance, in particular, its renewed (enhanced) image and economic regeneration.”
The city has also seen tourist numbers rise since it was awarded the title in 2003. The Impacts 08 research showed the city had a “high percentage” of new visitors, 41% of whom had never visited the city before.
The Mathew Street festival has been one of the jewels in the city’s crown for many years, drawing hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.
In 2005 research from The Mersey Partnership (TMP) showed the festival generated more than £32m for the region – so when news broke that this year’s event had been cancelled, some feared Liverpool’s reputation could be tarnished and its ability to bring tourists, money and business into the city next year questioned.
But Culture Company officials have dismissed those fears.
Next year’s events are expected to bring 1.7m visitors into the city, create an extra £200m in tourism spending, and help trigger £3bn of long-term investment.
A spokesman for the company said the festival’s cancellation would have no impact on next year’s plans.
He said: “The circumstances surrounding this year’s festival were unique in the way construction works impacted on where we would normally have the festival situated. That will never happen again.
“Liverpool has been holding massive events year after year for many years now. This is the first time we’ve had what you could call a setback.
“As an asset our events team is one of the city’s greatest. The events team is a very skilled one, and one setback is not going to impact on the way they have done their jobs, which they’ve done fantastically for the past 10 years.”
Peter Stoney, honorary senior fellow at the University of Liverpool’s management school, said he felt the problems at Mathew Street were “unfortunate” but that as long as next year’s festival went to plan there would be no long-term impact.
He said: “Mathew Street Festival can be seen as a one-off, to do with the failure to appreciate the impact of the sustained infrastructure works that are going on, though it does conform to the shooting itself in the foot image that Liverpool has acquired.
“But if the Capital of Culture year is not organised in a way that’s productive then it will have a much more serious impact in terms of long-term benefits that would have accrued.”
Mr Stoney said he expected the Capital of Culture year to bring hundreds of millions of pounds into Merseyside’s £20bn economy, as happened to Glasgow after 1988.
If successful, he said, it could boost Liverpool’s reputation for years to come.
“We’ve got a lot to gain,” he said.
Beatles Story managing director Jerry Goldman has his fingers crossed that the reduced Mathew Street Festival will still be a big hit – and believes Capital of Culture status will benefit Liverpool.
He says that as long as visitors still leave the city satisfied after this year’s festivities the long-term effects of the confusion will be minimal.
He said: “I think the disappointment that the festival has been cancelled is more an internal issue for Liverpool with everyone taking potshots at each other, rather than something that at the moment is hitting the outside world.
“I doubt whether the cancellation has been properly communicated to the outside world and therefore there’s going to be at least 100,000 people who will come up for the weekend expecting to see open stages and all the usual festivities.
“A lot depends on what experience they do have and if they go away angry.
“The city cannot afford to have 100,000 angry people telling people ‘don’t go to Liverpool, they mess up’.
“Let’s hope there’s a good atmosphere and the long-term effects will be minimal.”
The Beatles Story itself will be opening for free on Bank Holiday Monday.
“We’re trying to encourage as many people as possible to go away with a positive impression of Liverpool,” he said. “Word of mouth is everything.”
But Mr Goldman says his mind is not simply fixed on 2008 – instead, he says that regardless of any short-term worries, Capital of Culture year will have positive long-term benefits for the city.
“I’m not sure how many extra people will come to Liverpool just because it’s Capital of Culture,” he said.
“What’s benefiting Liverpool from the year is it’s focusing investment in infrastructure.
“The Arena and Convention Centre has been built, Paradise Street is taking shape, there have been new hotels.
“Liverpool isn’t going to feel the effects of that in 2008.
“2008 will be better than 2007. But 2009 will be stronger and 2010 will be a real step up.”
Professor Tom Cannon, a director of Rodney Street-based Ideopolis International, said it was important a climate of uncertainty did not develop around Liverpool’s ability to stage events.
He said: “Capital of Culture was supposed to put Liverpool in a win-win situation. But there’s a real fear it could put Liverpool in a lose-lose situation.
“The Mathew Street situation has created a climate that things might fail. If the first few events aren’t great successes then the effect on the rest of the year will be enormous.
“We are talking about a potentially significant financial effect.
“I would suggest there could be a significant number of people who are questioning whether to commit themselves who for the first two or three months of the year
“It will depend on how well Capital of Culture gets started.
“If you have a series of successful events, then the effect of the Mathew Street cancellation next year could be minimal.”
Frank McKenna, chairman of Downtown Liverpool in Business, agrees with Prof Cannon that the cancellation of Mathew Street’s outdoor events could cost £1m or more as people cancel hotel bookings or choose not to visit Liverpool that weekend.
He said: “Given the late notice of the cancellation of the outside events, a lot of hotels, restaurants, bars and so on have already made arrangements and paid out cash in preparation for the event taking place in all its glory. There’s obviously going to be some losses there. A lot of the hotels, such as the Malmaison and the Crowne Plaza, have had literally dozens and dozens of cancellations.
“People are expecting a fall in spending that particular weekend.”
Mr McKenna said the Culture Company should announce its programme of events for 2008 soon, rather than in November, to make clear that the city was set for an exciting year.
More bad press, he said, could cost the city dear.
He said: “If this was the first mistake that had occurred since we got the Capital of Culture badge in 2003, then we would have been OK.
“But coming on the back of issues such as the Fourth Grace, the tram scheme, and even further back Everton’s plans for a stadium on the waterfront, all these things combined do unfortunately give the impression we can’t organise a party in a brewery.
“That’s going to be more damaging in the long-term than the short-term financial damage some businesses have suffered.
“The people in charge of Capital of Culture have a duty to ensure no future mistakes are made. We simply cannot afford for Liverpool’s reputation to be damaged any more.”
alistairhoughton
