Driving Tourism Growth for Lancashire – Blackburn

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You don’t need us to tell you how important tourism is to Lancashire. Figures for 2018 show that our visitor economy is in its sixth year of continuous growth, with visitor numbers reaching 68.74million and delivering £4.41billion in spend.

There are a number of exciting developments and new investments planned across the county that have the potential to drive further growth and help attract high value visitors from further afield, as well as boosting our domestic tourism offer. Set against an ever-changing landscape including continued globalisation, technological innovations and political uncertainties, competition from destinations both within the UK and overseas is fiercer than ever and we need to work our assets harder, as well as investing in new ones, to maintain growth trends and strengthen our positioning as a compelling visitor destination, drawing out our distinctive qualities and being bolder in the way we tell our story.

To this end, Marketing Lancashire, supported by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, has commissioned an experienced and independent agency to help us produce an ambitious Tourism Growth Strategy for Lancashire, focused on targeting interventions towards inclusive growth. The work will gather an evidence base that will feed into the development of the Local Industrial Strategy being led by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership. It will also stand us in good stead to maximise any opportunities that come forward through the government’s Tourism Sector Deal.

We are keen to hear the views of as many businesses and individuals as possible, and we very much hope that you will be able to help shape this exciting piece of work which is critical to the continued success and prosperity of Lancashire as a visitor destination. We are running a series of fast-paced, interactive workshops that will set out to explore how you see Lancashire’s visitor economy moving forward, its leading opportunities and challenges, and what more can be done to enable further local growth