Liverpool’s visitor levy is helping to drive major events, overnight stays and year-round demand, with £82 returned to Liverpool’s economy for every £2 raised. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool’s £2 overnight visitor levy has raised more than £2 million in its first year, according to Liverpool’s Accommodation Business Improvement District (BID).
And it says that for every £2 raised, around £82 is returned to the local economy through spending on hospitality, travel, parking and culture.
Capital raised through the levy will be reinvested in a drive to attract major events into the city, increase overnight stays and strengthen the city’s position as a competitive UK and international destination.
In August, LBN reported that visitor numbers in the city region had risen by 7.8% in 2025, with tourism and the visitor economy now worth almost £7bn a year.
The visitor levy, approved by majority vote in April last year, was projected to raise £9.2 million over two years, including £6.7 million for a subvention fund to strengthen the city’s visitor economy by attracting major conferences and events.
The Accommodation BID claims events it has so far helped to attract and deliver have generated more than £86 million for Liverpool, while future events secured with its support are expected to contribute a further £132 million.
Events in the city, and in particular the city centre, have a direct impact on hotel occupancy rates, increasing the average to around 82% – nearly eight percentage points above the city’s annual average.
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The Accommodation BID says it has helped to attract 36 conferences, as well as major sporting and cultural programmes including The Open Championship, the 2027 World Majorettes Nations Cup and World Championships, the Inclusive Sport & Culture Festival, the 2030 World Gymnastics Championships and River of Light.
It is also supporting Liverpool’s new Super League Basketball franchise, which will return top-flight men’s professional basketball to the city in the 2026-27 season, with M&S Bank Arena as its home venue.
A further 20 projects and initiatives worth more than £1m have been approved for delivery between 2026 and 2028, and a pipeline worth around £1.7m is being developed with partners.
CEO of Liverpool Business Improvement District, which oversees the Accommodation BID, Bill Addy, says: “The Liverpool Model is one that works, driven by and shaped by the private sector.
“Over the past twelve months, Liverpool’s operating ABID has been able to illustrate what a robust and working model can successfully implement and achieve.
“Work is being done locally and regionally to define a sustainable devolved model that is as equally impactful and economically sound.
“The ABID has developed an established, industry-led mechanism for investing the levy income against the priorities, goals and objectives laid out in its Business Plan.
“In short, it is about converting visits into overnight stays, because people who stay overnight spend more money in the visitor economy.”