Beatles brand means big bucks for city tourism
Liverpool is at last beginning to make headway abroad with its Beatles heritage, argues Michael Wood.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Beatles brand brings big bucks to Liverpool. There are plenty of attractions celebrating the legacy of Liverpool's greatest sons to prove the point and one such is now using Beatlemania to sell the city to the world.
The Beatles Story, based in the Albert Dock, is doing its bit to promote Liverpool's tourism offering by loaning its Beatles Hidden Gallery exhibition to the Beatlemania exhibition in the Czech Republic.
It's part of an international marketing drive by the museum to boost visitor numbers to the city, and includes links with US tourism agencies and the training of Chinese tour guides at the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
So far the initiative has proved successful, with an extra 600 travellers from the Czech Republic visiting the city, a reported 60% rise in visitors from China last year and four major US tour operators adding Liverpool to their offering. It is estimated that the drive has generated hundreds of thousands of pounds for the city's tourism industry. Not a startling amount, of course, but a good start when you consider the potential.
The Beatles Story's pro-active and targeted approach, nurturing ties with influential partners in the US and emerging travel markets, shows us the importance of the right word in the right place. Liverpool has some fantastic attractions and festivals now to attract international visitors, as well as new hotels, restaurants and retail venues, but we cannot simply wait patiently to draw the world's gaze. We need to get our hands dirty and bang the drum for Mersey tourism.
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