Liverpool council to appoint £75,000 tourism guru

Jul 10 2009 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL council is to appoint a new tourism guru, amid fears not enough is being done to promote the city to the world.

The new post of Destination Liverpool director would appear to pit the city against the region’s official tourism body, The Mersey Partnership (TMP).

Last night, Rod Holmes, chairman of TMP, said he would be seeking an explanation as to how the proposed new role would not create duplication.

But last night city leaders were at pains to point out that the new £75,000-a-year role would work in conjunction with TMP.

A source told the Daily Post the appointment was a “pragmatic” compromise, recognising that TMP was not free to concentrate on just Liverpool as the city council would like. Liverpool City Council has long held the view that the city should be used as the “attack brand” to attract visitors to the region.

But TMP has to juggle that with the needs of every other Merseyside council.

Last night, Liverpool tourism leader Cllr Gary Millar said: “This is a bigger job than saying let’s do it all through the TMP.

“This seriously ramps up how we directly compete with the likes of Barcelona and others and meet the needs of our growing visitor market.”

But Liverpool Labour leader Joe Anderson said he thought the move was “unnecessary”.

He believes the city council should merge its regeneration agency Liverpool Vision with TMP.

“We need to be working closer together,” he added.

Mr Holmes, who took the chair at TMP after project managing the creation of Grosvenor’s Liverpool One, said: “Within the next few weeks the leaders of the six local authorities that make up Liverpool City Region and TMP, will explain how we are working together on matters which have to be dealt with at the city region level to compete with other cities in the UK and worldwide; and those matters that are best dealt with at the local level.

“No doubt Liverpool City Council will explain at that time how this proposed position fits into the city region working and how there is no duplication.”