Culture, heritage, world-class venues, music, sport and shopping – yes, it’s all happening in the vibrant and cosmopolitan conference destination of Liverpool City Region, Europe’s cultural capital.
Liverpool is probably most famous for its music and sporting heritage, but in recent years the focus has widened with the City Region being put on the international map for culture and conferencing.
An exciting and energetic destination to host a conference or event, Liverpool is in an excellent location geographically for key decision makers to meet and conduct business.
Find out what Liverpool has to offer by meeting the Liverpool Convention Bureau team at EIBTM, exhibiting as part of the Visit Britain stand (G120) with the theme of Innovation, Science and Discovery.
Liverpool was awarded the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2004, and the destination continues to prove extremely popular for both business tourism and leisure. Not only does the destination offer some of the best venues in the country, but it boasts unrivalled heritage and culture to keep delegates entertained once the working day is over.
The City Region continues to build on the success of European Capital of Culture 2008 with new attractions, hotels and headline events.
Liverpool has more museums and galleries than any other UK City Region outside London.
Readers of travel bible, Condé Nast Traveller, have voted Liverpool as their third favourite city destination in the UK for the second year running, behind only capital cities London and Edinburgh – a huge accolade for the city to retain its ranking.
Sarah Miller, Editor of Condé Nast Traveller, said: “Liverpool is one of my favourite cities in the North West so it was with delight to see that, after its sensational year as European Capital of Culture, our readers have been impressed by its architecture, awarding it even higher marks than London, propelling it into third place ahead of other world-class cities such as Bath.”
This popularity is also evident in the business tourism market. Liverpool is now ranked as 86th top conference destination in the world by ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) – an impressive jump of 44 places and places the city in the Top 100 conference destinations for the first time. This is excellent progress for a city which opened its flagship conference venue less than two years ago in the form of Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool (ACC Liverpool), home to the BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena.
ICCA only includes large, international, regular events in its criteria so this further proves Liverpool’s growing popularity for business tourism. This now places Liverpool in joint place with the likes of Adelaide, Brisbane, Marseille, Orlando, Riga and San Francisco – and ahead of New York City and Aukland and Venice. As well as being placed in the world’s Top 100, it also means that Liverpool has broken into Europe’s Top 50 and is now in the UK’s top five as a conference destination.
With access to an impressive portfolio of world-class venues and stunning locations, Liverpool Convention Bureau can help with every step of planning an event or conference, from venue finding and familiarisation visits, to online registration and accommodation booking. And for something a little different, a tailor-made social programme will prove popular.
Another strand to the team is Liverpool Corporate & Incentives, bringing the City Region’s business and tourism sectors together through bespoke programmes and experiences. Launched in April 2008, the focus is on the three key areas of sport, music and education, specialising in bespoke event creation to create an itinerary tailored specifically to the needs of delegates, including accommodation, restaurants, special events, venues, transport and corporate hospitality.
Liverpool City Region has a vast range of venues to host events and groups of all sizes. The city’s showpiece development is the £164million award-winning waterfront Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool (ACC Liverpool), which is situated adjacent to Albert Dock, a former 19th Century dock now converted to one of Britain’s top heritage attractions and is the UK’s largest group of Grade I listed buildings
Following an exceptional first year in 2008, it continues to grow in popularity and the list of events it has already hosted speaks for itself. High-profile concerts and conferences have included the prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards and BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Awards.
During its first 12 months, ACC Liverpool welcomed 730,000 visitors through its doors and generated an estimated economic impact of £200million. Figures include 71,000 delegates across 200 conferences and exhibitions in the BT Convention Centre, and 665,000 visitors to the Echo Arena which hosted 100 big name concerts.
ACC Liverpool has developed a reputation for major government and political events having staged UK Cabinet meetings and the Liberal Democrats’ Spring Conference 2009. In September 2011, it will host the Labour Party Annual Conference, a key four-day event using both the BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena.
Conference buyers and event organisers looking for unique venues will be spoilt for choice in Liverpool. The city’s most prestigious cultural venues include St George’s Hall, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool’s Anglican and Metropolitan Cathedrals, Liverpool Town Hall, Mersey Ferries, Sefton Park’s Victorian Palm House, Knowsley Hall, situated within a 2,500-acre estate and is Britain’s only 5-star Gold rated stately home – and not forgetting The Cavern Club, home to the city’s most famous sons, The Beatles.
The City Region’s top sporting venues are also an ideal choice to stage an event, including the city’s two Premier League football clubs Liverpool and Everton, and Aintree Racecourse, home to the world-famous Grand National.
A new infrastructure of hotels is making a major contribution to the conference offer by adding value with the wide variety of accommodation available, including stylish guest houses, big-name brand hotels, serviced apartments, boutiques hotels and country houses.
Recent additions include Jurys Inn, Staybridge Suites, Beatles-themed Hard Days Night and Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa, which complement the established industry names of Radisson Blu, Malmaison, Thistle, Crowne Plaza, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn.
The range of accommodation was further boosted in November 2009 with the opening of Hilton Liverpool and Novotel Liverpool Centre, both opening in the city for the very first time and situated within the 42-acre £1billion Liverpool ONE retail and leisure complex. Hilton Liverpool features 215 bedrooms, including a Presidential Suite, eight meetings rooms, board room, ballroom, and views towards the Liverpool waterfront. Novotel Liverpool Centre is a 4-star New Generation Novotel with 209 bedrooms, leisure facilities and a choice of nine meetings rooms.
The city’s original boutique Hope Street Hotel has recently undergone a £4.5million expansion project, which includes a striking glass and limestone frontage, a further 41 bedrooms including two duplex penthouses, and two rooftop function rooms with panoramic views across the city and beyond.
Once a conference has taken place and the hard work is over, there is plenty for delegates to enjoy at their leisure across the Liverpool City Region area. From a fantastic variety of places to dine and the famous Liverpool nightlife, it’s the perfect place to relax.
Two headline events for 2010 will also be highlights on the culture calendar, Picasso at Tate Liverpool and the Liverpool Biennial 2010.
Following on from the success of the Gustav Klimt showcase in 2008, Tate Liverpool presents Picasso: Peace and Freedom from 21 May to 30 August, 2010. This is a unique opportunity to see this major exhibition of the work of one of the most prolific artists of the 20th Century, bringing together over 150 works by Pablo Picasso from across the world. Following the show in Liverpool, the exhibition will then travel to the Albertina in Vienna.
The sixth Liverpool Biennial International Festival of Contemporary Art takes place across Liverpool city centre between 18 September and 28 November, 2010. It is the largest and one of the most exciting contemporary visual arts events in the UK, and with 975,000 visits in 2008 it was one of the best attended in the world. The 2010 international show celebrates a decade of commissioning new art through curatorial collaboration. Many artworks are exhibited in non-gallery sites, adding to the uniqueness of the event.
Liverpool City Region is easily accessible whether you’re travelling by plane, rail or road, and offers excellent transport links to make easy and economical to navigate the city centre and neighbouring areas.
Travelling to the City Region by air is easier than ever before with the launch of new international and domestic routes to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Air routes into Liverpool John Lennon Airport were expanded in March 2009 with a direct link to KLM’s main international hub in Schiphol, Amsterdam. The service connects Liverpool to more than 100 destinations on KLM’s own intercontinental network and over 650 worldwide destinations across KLM’s Skyteam partner networks. Three daily flights between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Schiphol Airport are opening up Liverpool to a whole new audience of travellers thanks to this increased global connectivity.
Just four months later in July 2009, UK regional airline Eastern Airways introduced its first scheduled flights from Liverpool JLA to Aberdeen and Southampton. The independent carrier operates three flights each weekday, making travelling from both ends of the country easy and convenient for both business and leisure travellers.
To find out more about the Liverpool City Region log onto:
www.VisitLiverpool.com/conferences
www.IncentivesLiverpool.com
www.VisitLiverpool.com
