Member Article

Three Queens river event brings millions to Merseyside

The recent event in which the Cunard ‘Queen’ liners all assembled on the Mersey has been officially certified as one of the area’s most successful free events, with people travelling from across the world to see it.

An independent report has revealed that 1.2 million people gathered along the Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton waterfronts, bringing in £32.9 million to the regional economy.

The report recordeed visitors coming to the city from Saturday 23 May until Tuesday 26 May as part of the Three Queens spectacular.

This included the arrival of Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and the ‘Amazing Graces’ projections which illuminated Liverpool’s waterfront.

The research, commissioned by Liverpool City Council and carried out by North West Research, was based on interviews with hundreds of people.

Key findings included:

The economic impact on each areas was: Liverpool – £29.1m. Wirral and Sefton – £3.8m On average, each visitor spent £27 48 per cent of visitors were from outside the city region 6 per cent of visitors came from oversees including locations such as North America, New Zealand and Ireland. The most popular visitors were day trippers at 58 per cent. 38 per cent all visitors stayed over for at least one night – the average length of stay was 3.4 nights

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.”

Cunard Director Angus Struthers said: “Liverpool did us proud. The gathering of our Three Queens on the Mersey was a spectacular success which captured interest all over the world. Together, Cunard and Liverpool have written a new chapter in maritime history which none of us present that day will ever forget.

“The success of the event can be measured in countless ways and yet in many respects what was witnessed and achieved that day is priceless. Everyone at Cunard is grateful for the enormous help and support which so many organisations, led by Mayor Anderson’s team, committed to make Cunard’s 175th Anniversary salute to Liverpool such a success.”

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’ – a seven week programme of events celebrating Liverpool’s internationally renowned maritime history and transatlantic links.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .