Birmingham’s tourism sector witnessed its most successful year in history last year, with hotel revenue, the number of visitors and the amount they spent all hitting record highs.
Birmingham welcomed 41.8 million visitors in 2017, helping to drive hotel occupancy to previous records of 75%, whilst revenue per available room was the highest ever recorded. September in particular was boosted by major events such as the Natwest T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston Stadium and Birmingham’s largest outdoor festival, the Birmingham Weekender.
The year also saw the arrival of a prominent new tourism project to the area – England’s Waterways, supported by the Discover England Fund. This new initiative intends to inspire international visitors to explore the canal networks and looks certain to provide a boost to the cultural offerings surrounding this area.
As experts in Leisure and Destination marketing, we certainly welcome these amazing results. With the number of tourists seem set to increase, no doubt the sector will continue to thrive and provide fantastic opportunities to do great work across the city. In particular, ‘heritage’ was the sub-sector to see the greatest increase in visitor numbers, up 12 per cent on 2016, which gives our city the chance to really showcase its amazing history, whilst moving into a prosperous future.
The recent handover for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (not to mentioned the arrival of everyone’s favourite Dinosaur, Dippy the Diplodocus) just solidifies our position as the 2nd City and a world leading destination.