Liverpool John Lennon Airport (240)
A THIRD hotel is to be built close to Liverpool John Lennon Airport to cope with increasing demand from air passengers.
The airport’s owners, Peel Holdings, yesterday submitted plans for permission to build to Liverpool City Council for the new 101-bed hotel.
It will cost £4.5m and will be built in Speke Hall Avenue, adjacent to the Fox Public House close to the airport.
The family hotel, which will be operated by Premier Inn will be occupy a site of around 1.4 acres. The hotel will have a bar and restaurant, and will create 25 full-time and 40 part-time jobs.
Peel spokesman Roger Wheeldon said last night: “The need for another hotel near Liverpool John Lennon Airport reflects the rapid growth and popularity of the airport and surrounding facilities.
“Premier Inn will complement the existing Express by Holiday Inn and the proposed Tulip Hotel at the airport terminal.”
Once planning permission is granted, work is due to start on site later this year with the hotel opening in autumn 2008.
Martin King, director of tourism at The Mersey Partnership, said: “It is great news for the region’s tourism industry that a major investor sees the building of a third hotel connected to Liverpool John Lennon Airport as important.”
The number of new hotels in Merseyside is a good way of measuring the increasing popularity and attractiveness of the destination.
“Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the fastest growing regional airport in the country, and this is reflected by the need for more hotel facilities.”
The boost for the airport comes just weeks after researched revealed that the number of overseas visitors to Liverpool has doubled in just 12 months. Tourism is now worth more than £1bn a year to Merseyside’s economy, and employs more than 22,000 people.
The statistics show Liverpool is a more popular destination than Oxford, Bath and Cambridge, and is ranked sixth of Britain's top tourist destinations, up 10 places on last year
Tourism officials believe next years’s 2008 cultural programme will attract hundreds of thousands of extra visitors.
A new Holiday Inn close to the airport opened earlier this year, and plans by Peel Holidays are in hand for another hotel as part of a multi-million pound extension at the airport. Councillors have already agreed to the scheme that will see an 11-storey, 155-bed hotel being built for the Tulip chain.
