Liverpool city region attracts more than 64m visitors a year, generating £4.5bn, and the new campaign aims to push those figures even higher. Tony McDonough reports

A new push has been launched to further grow Liverpool city region’s £4.5bn visitor economy and attract even more UK and international visitors to Merseyside.

Marketing Liverpool, an arm of Liverpool City Council, have been commissioned by Liverpool Visitor Economy Network (LVEN), a strategic group of major players in the city region, to create a new tourism campaign called Liverpool. Do It Your Way.

The city region’s visitor economy is as big as it has ever been. A report late last year showed that 64.2m people came here in 2017 – an increase of 2.7% on 2016 – which comprised 59m day visitors, up 2.8%, and 5.3m staying visitors, up 2.6%.

Figures for 2018 are likely to be even higher with the return of the Giants alone attracting more than one million people as well as other special events such as the Terracotta Warriors on display in the city.

This success has provided a boost for the city’s hotel sectors which has grown significantly in size since Liverpool was European Capital of Culture in 2008 and was recently voted by TripAdvisor users as the third most popular destination in the UK (behind only capital cities London and Edinburgh).

Real people

Liverpool. Do It Your Way uses real people who have visited and fallen in love with the city to capture the excitement, individuality and desires of the modern-day traveller. The people chosen to be the ‘heroes’ of the campaign include Kyami who’s passion for music she found mirrored on the streets of Liverpool. 

The campaign will put an emphasis on Liverpool’s vast visitor offering and will engage potential visitors with the idea that no matter what they’re looking for on their travels, they’ll find it in Liverpool. 

Donna Howitt, chair of LVEN’s marketing group, spoke of the importance of keeping Liverpool moving in an increasingly competitive tourism industry. She explained: “Liverpool has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, but we can’t be complacent.

“This campaign allows us to build on our success and position Liverpool as a must-see destination for domestic and international audiences. Research is at the heart of the campaign and the creative strategy and concept is based on powerful insights from our visitor research.”

Short films

Marketing Liverpool has also commissioned Zut Media to produce a series of short films for the campaign, each of which focus on a different hero and their Liverpool experience.

Alongside this, a vast array of brand-new photography, an extensive social media campaign and a dedicated section on the visitliverpool.com website will allow visitors to either follow in the footsteps of the campaign heroes or create their own, bespoke itinerary using the VisitLiverpool itinerary builder.

Chris Brown, director of Marketing Liverpool, said: “The campaign is international in its ambition and appeal. It celebrates the moments and experiences that make Liverpool an unforgettable destination for domestic and international visitors.

“In today’s age, travellers are looking for authentic travel experiences which is exactly what this campaign aims to promote.”