An independent report has revealed that £32.9 million was generated for the local region economy after 1.2 million people gathered along the Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton waterfronts for the Three Queens event in May.
The report talks of visitors coming to the city from Saturday 23 May until Tuesday 26 May as part of the spectacular to celebrate the 175th anniversary of The Cunard.
This included the arrival of Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth who met for the first time on the Mersey, as well as the Amazing Graces projections, which illuminated Liverpool’s waterfront in unforgettable style.
The research was commissioned by Liverpool City Council and carried out by North West Research, and is based on interviews with hundreds of people. It found that around £29.1 m in tourism was brought to Liverpool whilst Wirral and Sefton benefited from £3.8m.
An average of £27 was spent per visitor with he report also showing that 48 per cent of visitors were from outside the city region and 6 per cent of visitors came from oversees including locations such as North America, New Zealand and Ireland.
The majority of people were visiting Liverpool for the purpose of the Three Queens event.
A huge 94 per cent of people would recommend the event and 88 per cent would return to Liverpool again.
When asked for satisfaction rates on elements of the event including transport, facilities, value for money etc the ratings tended to be ‘very good’ or ‘good’. Signposting scored highly, along with the suitability of the event and the publicity and promotion
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, said:
“Anyone who was lucky enough to experience any of the Three Queens event knew that it was a special moment not only in this city’s history, but in Merseyside’s history.
“The build-up to the event was unprecedented and there was a real sense across the region that we were about to be part of something truly unforgettable.
“From the moment the Amazing Graces projections kicked things off on the Saturday night, we knew it was going to be a huge success as from that point word spread the crowds kept growing over the next few days.
“To have more than one million people come to Merseyside for this event is incredibly rewarding, and the economic boost is one of the biggest the area has received as a result of a free cultural event. Hotels were sold out, restaurants began to run out of food and the retail areas experienced a real boost to sales.
“But it’s not just the economic benefits – the arrival of those majestic liners making history on the Mersey was an image projected across the globe. The spotlight was on Liverpool and we rose to the occasion and shone.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the huge team involved in making it such a huge success – partners across the region from the transport networks and the police right through to sponsors and of course Cunard themselves, who all worked tirelessly to make this the history-making event it has turned out to be.”
Anna Rees, North West Research Manager, Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said:
“The results of the economic impact report show how the Three Queens event made a significant positive contribution to the local visitor economy, with spend coming into the area from across the UK and overseas. Positive results also came from the visitor satisfaction questions, with almost all respondents likely to return to Liverpool in the future.
“Events like the Three Queens play an important contribution to the rising total economic impact of the wider Liverpool City Region Visitor Economy.”
The Three Queens event formed part of One Magnificent City which is a seven week programme of events celebrating Liverpool’s internationally renowned maritime history and transatlantic links.