LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND. Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson at the Cunard Building on 21 May 2021. Picture: Jennifer Bruce/Liverpool City Council.
Following the news that Liverpool is to be the first city in the UK to introduce an Accommodation BID, Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson reflects, on this milestone moment for the city’s cultural and hospitality sector.
We are in the middle off a budget consultation where the council must make £72 million cuts in order to set a balanced budget. This is on top of what we’ve saved over the last ten years.
As a council, we could have shrugged our shoulders at bidding for major events like world gymnastics or Eurovision.
We could have let the Events Research Programme – which paved the way for opening up events for the whole country post Covid – pass us by when central government came to us for support.
We could have taken a ‘business as usual’ approach during covid and not been one of the first cities in the country to introduce a scheme (Liverpool Without Walls) which allowed our hospitality sector to open up outdoors, providing a lifeline at a time when many businesses were nearing collapse.
But since 2010 we have continued to build on the success of European Capital of Culture, becoming an internationally renowned city for showcasing huge events and festivals – whether it be Giants walking around our city, Cunard liners on the Mersey, a beautiful free light trail or victorious football parades taking over our streets.
Our commitment to arts and culture has been unwavering despite cuts and, alongside Art Council England, we have always strived to properly support our cultural sector.
This week, it has been announced that Liverpool will become the first city in the UK to establish an Accommodation BID, as the hotel and serviced accommodation sector voted yes in a ballot this week. The sector voted to support by 84%.
With a £4.3 million investment, the Accommodation BID is designed to provide security both for the industry and for visitors, helping to continue to attract major events to the city, like Eurovision.
Alongside other measures, the new BID will see the establishment of a subvention fund, focused on attracting small, medium and large conferences to the city, that convert into hotel stays.
The vote in favour of the Accommodation BID highlights the importance and strength of the relationship between the public sector and private sector, demonstrating that the power and pull of culture and events should never be underestimated.
In the face of diminishing public funds this could prove to be a seismic change to our cultural landscape.
Thanks to everyone who supported this future-facing, transformational bid.
You will now, hand-in-hand with us, drive the change needed to stabilise the visitor economy and make sure we remain competitive and desirable in a world post Eurovision.
Mayor Joanne Anderson
Find out more about the Accommodation BID at the official website.
