Liverpool Business Improvement District and Downtown in Business have today launched a major national campaign aimed at tackling the growing pressures facing the UK’s hospitality, retail, tourism and city-centre economies.
The campaign – Unlocking Britain’s Visitor Economy – will connect business leaders, BIDs, hotels, retailers, cultural venues, and parliamentarians to bring the concerns of the industry from high streets to the corridors of power, pressing government for a more pro-growth, business-led approach to supporting the visitor economy.
At the heart of the campaign is a new Visitor Economy Growth Charter and an upcoming Visitor Economy Manifesto, setting out clear policy asks. This will include clarity on the national tourist tax, reform of business rates and VAT, action on high street regeneration, looking again at tax-free international shopping, skills and staffing reform, modernised planning and licensing, improved night-time transport, and changes to Package Travel Regulations to unlock domestic “experience-led” breaks.
With a series of high-profile regional and national events, a major London forum, a parliamentary reception at Westminster, and sustained engagement with ministers, MPs and metro mayors this campaign will take the concerns of businesses in Liverpool directly to those with the power to affect change.
Bill Addy, CEO of Liverpool Business Improvement District, says:
“Liverpool has shown what is possible when the private sector is empowered to lead investment in our city centre and visitor economy.
The truth is that at a national level, policy-making is too focused on short term action, which is adding costs, complexity and uncertainty for business.
We need a strategy for business that enables the engine fuel of our regional economies to thrive. As BIDs we provide additionality and are a champion for business, not a political machine. Yet the impact of policy-making on our private sector needs to be heard.
This campaign is about putting Liverpool at the heart of a national conversation, ensuring hospitality, retail, culture and tourism are treated as the economic assets they are. It offers a clear and positive alternative to back growth and back our city centres.”
Liverpool’s experience with business-led models such as the Accommodation BID will be used as a national case study throughout the campaign.
Frank McKenna, group chair and chief executive of Downtown in Business, said:
“The visitor economy is one of Britain’s greatest strengths – yet it is being held back by outdated regulation, rising costs, and a worrying instinct in Whitehall to tax first and think later.
Unlocking Britain’s Visitor Economy is a serious, solutions-led campaign. We’re not just opposing bad ideas like a tourist tax – we’re setting out what government should do instead. Business-led investment, safer city centres, smarter regulation and policies that genuinely support growth.
Liverpool Business Improvement District has been at the forefront of innovation in this space for two decades, and together we intend to make sure the voice of cities and businesses is heard loud and clear in Westminster.”
The campaign will culminate in a national report to government, supported by a growing alliance of hospitality operators, retailers, cultural organisations, BIDs and city-region leaders from across the UK.
For further details of the campaign please contact [email protected].
