THE last time Merseyside launched an over-arching tourism strategy was in June, 2003.
That was supposed to last until 2015.
But today’s “ambitious” and “bold” strategy brushes the 2003 report aside and sets new targets.
Back in 2003, tourism spend was just £604m. Today it is around £1.3bn.
Six years ago, The Mersey Partnership wanted the tourism spend to grow threefold to £1.8bn. Now the city region is holding out for a 60% uplift – to £2bn – in the next decade.
An appendix to the TMP report makes clear the region has adjusted its goals. By 2015 tourism spend should be £1.6bn – £200m off the goal set in 2003. The latest projection hopes tourism will underpin 14,000 more jobs by 2020, taking the total to 37,000.
The 2003 report said by 2015 the city region’s tourists would support 40,000 jobs, although TMP number-crunchers say the figures cannot be directly compared.
Industry standards which determine how much money a tourism job needs have changed, meaning more cash is needed per full time job.
