Latest figures for the Liverpool City Region show the visitor economy is now worth over £5 billion — surpassing the pre-pandemic high of £4.98 billion in 2019.

The findings are contained in the latest independent research for 2022 commissioned by the Visitor Economy team at Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company.

The figures show:

• Although visitor numbers are still below the pre-pandemic figures of 66.27 million in 2019 they have picked up to 55.94 million. Visitor numbers dropped to 26.14 million in 2020 and 42.15 million in 2021.
• The number of staying visitors has risen to 5.83 million, overtaking the 2019 figure of 5.40 million and is higher than the 2018 figure of 5.48 million.
• The number of day visitors continues to rise to 50.11 million, catching up with 2019 figures of 60.86 million. 2021 saw 38.12 million.
• Jobs in the sector have picked up to 51,605. The figure in 2019 was 55,703. Jobs had dropped to just over 24,000 in 2020 to 38,000 in 2021.
• Hotel occupancy is also steadily rising to 74.3% from the 55.2% in 2021. The figure in 2019 was 78.4%.

Janet Nuzum, Visitor Economy Sector Manager at Growth Platform, said: “We are absolutely delighted to witness the resurgence of tourism in Liverpool City Region.

“And these figures can only go on an upward trajectory with the success of hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, The Open Championship, the Grand National Festival and other world-famous events. The Eurovision alone is forecast to increase the number of visitors to the city region by around 5% for years to come – boosting the economy by £250m by 2026 …

“There is of course still work to be done but the support and resilience of our local community, businesses and tourism partners have not only been integral to this fantastic recovery but are key to the continued growth of our visitor economy.”

These figures are published by the STEAM (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor) model, which is used throughout the UK tourism industry to measure economic impact of the visitor economy. Hotel occupancy data is provided by STR Global Ltd.