Blackpool has unveiled a dazzling multi-million pounds programme of marketing, events and new attractions to celebrate the start of a new tourism season.
The highlights were revealed to an audience of hoteliers and other tourism businesses by VisitBlackpool and resort partners at the annual season launch in the new £30m Conference & Exhibition Centre in the historic Winter Gardens. These included:
• More than £15m of investment in new attractions including the world’s first Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse on the Golden Mile; a new big cat enclosure at Blackpool Zoo; the much-anticipated return of the award-winning Valhalla thrill ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach; a new three-tier Ninja assault course at Ascent Trampoline Park and a new multiplex cinema in the town centre featuring one of the country’s largest IMAX screens.
• The planned opening of a new four-star Holiday Inn and Marco Pierre White restaurant, a 70-bedroom extension to the seafront Hampton By Hilton, and a much-enhanced hospitality offer with the summer arrival of a Turtle Bay restaurant and newly-regenerated Abingdon Street Market with multiple food and drink concessions.
• The planned return of the annual Switch-On ceremony to the outdoors where the Illuminations will be turned on as part of a free event with music and family entertainment. For the past three years, the Switch-On ceremony has been performed indoors with a limited audience, largely due to COVID restrictions. Further details will be revealed in the weeks ahead.
• A right royal celebration on Sunday 7 May to mark the King’s Coronation featuring a magnificent heritage tram parade along the seafront and a Big Lunch outdoor picnic with live entertainment on the Tower Festival Headland. The resort will also take part in the Lighting Up The Nation event that evening with a unique, Coronation-themed Illuminations display.
• Another two-month extension to the Illuminations season with the lights shining nightly from September 1 until January 1, 2024. Following the introduction of the giant Odyssey installation during 2022, the Illuminations team are working on three brand new installations for the 2023 season which will be unveiled over the coming months.
• A packed calendar of free events including the two-day Blackpool Air Show with the Red Arrows performing on both days, as well as Ride The Lights, World Fireworks Championship Blackpool, the award-winning Lightpool Festival, and Christmas By The Sea.
• A vast selection of West End shows and live entertainment at venues including the Winter Gardens, Grand Theatre, and Pleasure Beach, including Six The Musical, Annie, Shrek The Musical, The Spongebob Musical, The Mousetrap, and a new musical stage adaptation of Winnie The Pooh. Sir Cliff Richard will also mark 60 years since he first performed a summer season in Blackpool with a concert at the Opera House.
• A repeat of the “Only In Blackpool” destination marketing campaign developed in partnership with Merlin Entertainments and other resort partners, and first unveiled last year. The summer campaign will once again feature resort “ambassador” Nigel C Gull giving TV viewers a whistle-stop tour of the resort’s major attractions.
The launch event also saw the publication of a bumper free entertainment guide containing hundreds of listings for shows, musicals and concerts running from Easter to the end of the year at numerous venues including the piers and Viva Blackpool.
