With the spectre of Christmas now behind us and the New Year well underway, now is a great time to start planning ahead, saving dates and making bookings, to help ensure you and your friends and family have the best year possible.
Gemma Sparkes, Digital Marketing Executive Marketing Liverpool
The latest VisitLiverpool guide has been beautifully designed to bring you a bite-sized but compressive round-up of all the great things happening in Liverpool from now until early summer 2023. .
We caught up with Marketing Liverpool’s Digital Marketing Executive, Gemma Sparkes, to find out more about the latest guide and get her take on the most exciting things heading your way.
Gemma, It’s another great, super-handy guide. What inspired this recent edition?
“There’s a real buzz in Liverpool right now. Not only in the office but out and about in the city itself. Being selected to host Eurovision 2023 in May seems to have really sparked something, so we tried to capture this feeling in our latest VisitLiverpool Guide.
“Just like Capital of Culture in 2008, we believe Eurovision could be a great catalyst, sparking broader interest in Liverpool as a visitor destination overall, so we’re keen to capitalise on this opportunity.
Which events particularly stand out for you this season?
“For me, what’s really special about this season is the sheer variety that Liverpool City Region offers. We always deliver on so many fronts. For sport we have The Grand National, in April and with Rugby League and Premiership Football Matches and golf tournaments.
“For art and culture, we have ‘The Turner Prize’ at Tate Liverpool and Liverpool Biennial, starting this summer. For music, alongside our epic plans for Eurovision, we also have our popular ‘On the Waterfront Event’ which will see the return of two of Liverpool’s home-grown heroes, Jamie Webster and leading international DJ, Camelphat.
“I also can’t wait for the return of Liverpool Sound City, the UK’s best festival for emerging music. The event is a great way to see lots of new bands and upcoming artists and to experience Liverpool musically, at a lot of different venues, which is always a highlight for me.”
Liverpool Visitor Guide Winter/Spring 2023
Aside from events, what new additions are there to Liverpool’s visitor economy, which feature in the most recent visitor guide?
“National Museum Liverpool is presenting a whole array of exciting new exhibitions this season, including ‘Art of the Terraces’ and ‘Pure Brilliance – The Boodles Story’ with many of them free to attend. Of course there’s also an ever-expanding array of new restaurants to indulge in, including Nova Scotia, Street Pizza Gordon Ramsay, Scribble at MerseyMade.
“Our region has also now welcomed the opening of the ‘Eureka! Science + Discovery Centre’ on the Wirral, which takes visitors on a journey of discovery around the workings of the human body and the natural world and it’s very impressive. It’s a fantastic attraction for parents with children under 14, reframing how they see the world around them, making science and learning fun.”
Speaking of Liverpool’s Wirral borough. I particularly enjoyed reading about all the things you can do there.
“Yes. It’s part of on-going ‘spotlight’ series, where we focus on a particular borough of Liverpool. Wirral is just a short journey over the water and it’s so picturesque and full of things to do. There’s 22 miles of stunning coastline. 50 miles of beautiful walks. It’s home to New Brighton, a lovely seaside town full of heritage and charm.
“There’s also unique attractions like Port Sunlight and its stunning garden village, the Lady Lever Art Gallery and the Royal Liverpool Golf Course in Hoylake. We’re hoping more readers jump the ferry or catch a bus and explore more of Wirral this season. The Wirral is less than a 30-minute drive from Liverpool City Centre and it’s a real stand-out asset to the region.
VisitLiverpool Visitor Guide – Spotlight on Wirral.
How have you worked to adapt the VisitLiverpool guide for this season?
“We are very conscious about national and international concerns regarding the cost of living, so we adapted our Visitor Guide this year to include a list of 15 free things to do within the city region and people are also encouraged to check out our blog on VisitLiverpool.com for more money-saving things-to-do in Liverpool.
“This edition’s ‘Cosy Hidden Gems’ feature wraps-up a whole swathe of things that people may not initially thing of doing when they come to Liverpool. This gave us a great opportunity to highlight and support a number of Liverpool City Region’s independent visitor economy businesses, which add to the special vibe and unique culture we have here.
Finally, where can people access the guide physically and digitally?
“As ever, people can access the latest Liverpool Visitor Guide digitally through the VisitLiverpool website
“There are also physical copies of Liverpool Visitor Guides distributed throughout the UK at selected locations and they are available across Liverpool City Region’s Tourist Information Centres.
“So, if you’re looking to get the most out of Liverpool in the first half 0f 2023; have more fun and feel more connected to our region’s vast and ever-changing tourism and leisure landscape, Liverpool City Region always has just the thing for you.