Tourism businesses across the Liverpool City Region could receive a significant boost thanks to a bespoke support programme.

Business growth is a key priority for the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (Liverpool LEP), who are offering training, coaching and best practice programmes to tourism businesses looking to develop and grow.

In 2014, the tourism industry across the Liverpool City Region was worth £3.6bn – one of the strongest in the country. There were 57.6m visitors to the region and Liverpool was placed 5th of all UK towns or cities visited by overseas and domestic visitors. Liverpool One also recorded a footfall of over 27m people in 2014 – up 4% from 2013.

To build on this growth, the Liverpool LEP has commissioned Tourism Growth Ltd to deliver individually tailored programmes of business support which include a series of short, sharp training workshops, one-to-one on-site business coaching sessions and best practice visits to top-performing and award-winning tourism businesses.

The training workshops, which run during April, May and June in Liverpool, Southport and Wirral, all focus on topics which help tourism businesses to improve their bottom-line – such as Selling Skills, Revenue Management, Using Social Media, Managing Your Reputation Online and Getting the Most from Your Website.

Peter Sandman, Head of Visitor Economy Development at Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

“This is a great opportunity for any business wanting to grow and improve their performance, delivered through a company with selected industry experts with a proven track record.

“2015 is an event packed year and the perfect time for any tourism business to look at both improvement and expansion.”

Paul Hickey, Managing Director of Tourism Growth Ltd, said:

“We are delighted to be working once again with Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver a new business support programme – and to help tourism, hospitality and leisure businesses across the region to improve sales, productivity and profits.”

Liverpool LEP has worked with Tourism Growth Ltd on a number of occasions before to deliver successful programmes of business support for the tourism sector.  In 2013 for example, 35 businesses benefited from a programme which led to increased sales and profits year-on-year and over 200 new jobs being created.

Here are just some of the many examples of very positive feedback from tourism businesses across the region:

Enda Rylands, General Manager, Ramada Plaza Hotel Southport, said:

“We were delighted with the results of Tourism Growth’s business coaching and training programme at the Ramada Plaza.”

Moira Leonard, Director, Sefton Park Palm House Preservation Trust, Liverpool, said:

“The Tourism Growth training workshops were so useful for us and of great benefit to our organisation – loads of practical ideas which we could take away and put into practice ourselves.”

Charlotte Dooley, Head of Operations, Caffe Cream of New Brighton, said:

“We enjoyed the whole experience of the Tourism Growth programme. The training workshops were fantastic – and the trainers we worked with had a vast experience of the sector.”

Tracy Holgate, Owner, The Ambassador Townhouse, Southport, said:

“I have attended a number of training programmes over the last ten years … I am not exaggerating when I say that the Tourism Growth programme is without exception the best training I have received during that time.”

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