[Villiers Terrace]

With Liverpool currently expecting in the region of 25,000 overseas passengers this season to be passing through its new Cruise Liner Terminal the fight to keep the estimated $140 spend per passenger on offer in the city and away from its near tourist rival begins.

With cruise liner visits lasting for as little as 6 hours, the danger of presenting too much of the $3.5 million p/a booty to a conveniently-placed established tourist destination in Chester, should be occupying the minds of Liverpool City Council, whose £17m investment is intended to help open the doors to a new stream of tourist revenue, as the city seeks to reverse the tide of a 40 year decline.


Good, pro-active, number crunching vis-a-vis cruise liner money actually being spent in the city, and a continued ramping-up of Liverpool's tourist and retail offer post-08 will be essential to maximising the value of this ambitious investment to Liverpool itself.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Chris B]

With, as you say, sometimes only around 6 hours to explore, I can't see many people bothering to go as far afield as Chester. The only instances where I can see this might be the case is if they have already visited Liverpool often, and as such want to go elsewhere (although I'd doubt that there wouldn't be something new to hold their interest). Alternatively there might be something specific in Chester which they want to see.

Without wishing to big Liverpool up, or demean Chester, if you haven't visited the North West before (maybe even England before), and you have a world famous city at the end of your gang-plank, why would you choose to go to Chester (unless there is something specific there as mentioned above). Chester is worth seeing, but when you have so many attractions on your doorstep, it seems odd to travel, thereby eating into the time you have ashore. This is of course assuming that people would know how to go about getting to Chester, which would obviously take up more time finding out.

Yes there will be a certain amount of custom from the cruise liners that splills over into neighbouring areas. However I don't see that represents any great amount, and the vast amount of income will still fall within the Liverpool City boundary - probably mostly within the city centre actually. As such, I think the CLT will still have the desired effect on the local economy, and will not be undermined by the tourists attractions in the near vacinity of our city.

 

[sloyne]

With Liverpool currently expecting in the region of 25,000 overseas passengers this season to be passing through its new Cruise Liner Terminal the fight to keep the estimated $140 spend per passenger on offer in the city and away from its near tourist rival begins.

Thoughts anyone?

Chester, and for longer stays, the English Lake District will have organised "Ships Tours" already booked, however, the vast majority of pax will "walk ashore" for the visit. For the latter it would be suggested that some form of free transport be provided to a central location were tour guides/buses/cabs be available for hire. City centre maps and information, in a number of languages, for tourists on foot should also be available. Extended opening hours for city centre stores should be complimented by extending opening hours for local museums and galleries. The landing stage it's self should be bedecked with the flags of the nationalities onboard the cruise ship berthed. This is one thing that makes a positive impression on both passengers and crew, most of who will be non British. It is easy to get this information from the ship it's self. I well remember the favourable comments made by a citizen of Kiribati after seeing his flag flown at the Port of Long Beach. Just a small gesture but with a very positive impression, for Long Beach.

 

[Babaloo]

The cruise companies tend to offer a range of excursions from Liverpool - Chester is one of them. I think some of the longer stays offer the Lake District and even the Potteries! Most of the excursions are Liverpool based. My guess is that people will go to Chester if they are already familiar with Liverpool and fancy a change during the day. The fact that Chester and the Lakes are close by should serve to make Liverpool an even more popular destination - worthy of a two day stay in port!

 

[sloyne]

The fact that Chester and the Lakes are close by should serve to make Liverpool an even more popular destination - worthy of a two day stay in port!

Very rarely happens and when it does it's because of missing out another port due to weather etc. Even if a ship offers extended tours which require an overnight at a hotel the ship will usually depart for it's next port and pick up the passengers there. Cruise ships, like airplanes, are on a very tight schedule and, a very tight budget. Tying up alongside a pier can be very costly to the cruise company but, having said that, so is steaming and burning bunkers.

 

[Villiers Terrace]

Chester, and for longer stays, the English Lake District will have organised "Ships Tours" already booked, however, the vast majority of pax will "walk ashore" for the visit.

Thanks for the info Slo-mo.

That's good to hear about the vast majority being "walk ashore"...

I, like you, have read some of those on-board itinerary options for passengers disembarking at Liverpool, and the mere existance of Chester only options whereby Liverpool's CLT acts as a proxy Chester CLT makes me realise how important it is that the city is acutely aware of the competition and remains vigilant about minimising that loss.
What you say about these things already being booked is but a detail regarding the longer-term actions Liverpool has to take, as the better we do, the lesser will be the demand and economic justification will for those pre-booked Chester-only options to figure in the first place.

 

[robinsonky1]

Very rarely happens and when it does it's because of missing out another port due to weather etc. Even if a ship offers extended tours which require an overnight at a hotel the ship will usually depart for it's next port and pick up the passengers there. Cruise ships, like airplanes, are on a very tight schedule and, a very tight budget. Tying up alongside a pier can be very costly to the cruise company but, having said that, so is steaming and burning bunkers.

Did a 2-day stay at Israel's Lod or Haifa (can't remember which) mostly cos as above the excursions were so long distance

 

[Villiers Terrace]

My guess is that people will go to Chester if they are already familiar with Liverpool and fancy a change during the day.

Not really. Look at the customer demographics.

A large block consists of you typical, affluent, tourist guide reading, late-middle-aged American in search of the old, the picturesque and the quaint.

Chester's great a huge draw for them. Unfortunatly, if you have but 6-8 hours to empty those wallets, when sections of your sea-bourne potential customers are enticed to another town, you may not get a chance to get to them before they sail off.

We do need to keep watchful over the ensuing spending patterns over the next few years, raising our game et etc, to really milk this opportunity.

 

[Chris B]

A large block consists of you typical, affluent, tourist guide reading, late-middle-aged American in search of the old, the picturesque and the quaint.

Chester's great a huge draw for them.

Maybe, but if we're talking about the American market, surely Liverpool is an even bigger draw than Chester? Liverpool may not have the quaint and picturesque as much as Chester does, but The Cavern, Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and others count for a lot. There is of course more to Liverpool than just The Beatles, but they are a big draw.

I appreciate your concerns about Liverpool footing the bill for the CLT, only to see the profits drained off by our neighbours, but be careful not to undervalue just what a big pull for tourists Liverpool is - especially foreign tourists.

 

[sloyne]

Did a 2-day stay at Israel's Lod or Haifa (can't remember which) mostly cos as above the excursions were so long distance

Other examples would be to Wadi Rum, Petra, Agra, Pyramids, Great Wall, etc., however, there is also the Machu Picchu example were pax are put ashore at Manta, Ecuador and picked up two days later in Callao, Peru or vise versa, depending on whether the ship is north or south bound. Yes, I agree, there are exceptions to the rule.

 

[sloyne]

We do need to keep watchful over the ensuing spending patterns over the next few years, raising our game et etc, to really milk this opportunity.

Constantly.kay:

 

[Babaloo]

On the few occasions I have been near the landing stage when a ship has been in recently (twice in total) most of the people seemed either to be walking into town or towards the Albert Dock. I saw one coach with 'Cathedrals' and another with 'Beatle Tour' taped to the front window. There were other coaches but I don't know where they were going.

 

[Villiers Terrace]

be careful not to undervalue just what a big pull for tourists Liverpool is - especially foreign tourists.

Oh no not at all, but we really need to maximise that draw because we do have immediate competition hoping to benefit from our facility, potentially at our expense.

That's the real world, and that's what we need to need to keep on top of.

 

[Medici]

I know it is covered in other threads but Liverpool needs to find something other than just tourism. The thought of Liverpool as a somewhat larger Chester type olde English theme park is very depressing. Chester and Liverpool offer very different things and yes lets have a great city centre that's worth a visit but Liverpool still has not come up with a big idea for existing after the decline of the port.

 

[Awayo]

^^Actually, its worse than that. It is only small but pound-for-pound Chester has the sort of diverse modern economy that Liverpool should aspire to. New media publishing, IT, financial services. Liverpool could do with more of the sort of stuff Chester's got than vice versa imo.

 

[eyesparky]

I think people consistently underestimate the diversity of the Liverpool City Region's economy. We have a long way to go, but constantly down playing where we are already is hugely counter productive and plays into our competitor's hands.

Anyway, with reference to the Cruise Liner Facility, I believe that Liverpool is and will continue to be a huge draw to visitors from the liners. Just walking down from seeing the Ark Royal the other day I found myself looking in awe at our waterfront despite getting the oportunity to see it regularly. Even with all the ongoing work it is still truly spectacular and a fantastic draw to explore the wider City.

 

[Babaloo]

The 'city region' is vastly under-marketed. Apart from the attractions of historic cities such as Chester and Liverpool, it's potentially beach/golf/sailing resort heaven. North Wales and the Lake District are on our doorstep, and IOM is a seacat ride away. Mersey Ferries should be developing the North Wales day cruise market and not just sending ships up the Manchester ship canal!

 

[Tony Sebo]

There is no NWDA monies for that and I imagine that they would be loathe to help something that would only be of use to Liverpool, rather than to their stupid 'region'!

Might be worth an email though, just to sound them out, like?

 

[Martin S]

I don't see the problem if some cruise liner passengers would rather go to Chester, the Lake District or even the Trafford Centre for that matter. If the CLT gives access to the whole of the North West and not just Liverpool, then we are going to get more and bigger ships and, therefore, more people through the port and, consequently, more opportunities for the shops and tourist attractions of Liverpool.

Liverpool is not the ideal destination for tourists in search of Ye Olde Englande but we do have attractions such as Speke Hall that will appeal to that market.

 

[eyesparky]

Judging by the shopping bags in evidence amonst our American cousins in the City yesterday I think a fair few just quite fancy a good shop. Can't hurt that there are so many fantastic attractions en route to doing so either. Agree that the wider the offering the better regardless of where in the Region but given a 6-10 hour window I think Liverpool will likely see the Lions share. There were a fair few people walking around the Pier Head area Yesterday saying "Wow" alot ... we truly have an amazing offering in this City that sometimes we have a tendancy to underestimate.