Blackpool Tourism Boost

There has been a huge boost to the Blackpool tourism industry in 2022 with record numbers flocking to the famous seaside resort following the near catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 restrictions of 2020 and 2021.

Blackpool’s tourism industry makes huge comeback from impact of Covid-19

Blackpool alone accounted for around 40% of all visits to Lancashire during 2021 and the number of tourists flocking to the town is expected to break records with some analysts predicting over 20 million visitors by the end of the year.

Blackpool’s tourism industry was booming before the Covid-19 shutdowns and restrictions of 2020 and early 2021, however despite the near-catastrophic impact of the pandemic, the scale and speed of the post-pandemic recovery in Blackpool has just been revealed.

New tourism figures which have just been published indicate that Blackpool attracted a little under 19 million visitors in 2021, despite the fact that the Covid-19 restrictions lasted well into the year (four months to be exact). The actual figure of 18.81 million is 4% higher that the pre-pandemic 2019 figure and over double that of 2020 when the pandemic restrictions were at their most severe.

The report values the Blackpool tourism industry as a whole at around £1.4 Billion and it indicated that the town attracted 40% of all visitors to the county last year, a number which will certainly have increased in 2022. Around 20,000 jobs in and around the town depend directly on tourism and the repeated extension of the duration of the Blackpool Illuminations as well as the Light Festival will help ensure that tourism numbers will remain high throughout the winter.

The 2022 season is expected to break all records with some analysts predicting that over 20 million visitors will visit the town by the end of the year.

Leader of Blackpool Council, Cllr Lynn Williams, said:

“Given the near catastrophic impact of those restrictions during 2020 and the first few months of 2021, we were determined to give our tourism and hospitality businesses every opportunity to hit the ground running.

“By utilising business support monies, we were able to stage the most ambitious autumn and winter programme of events we have ever attempted – and the publication of today’s STEAM figures shows how much that investment paid off.”