A crack team from Blackpool, including the Winter Gardens complex, VisitBlackpool and hotel partners are attending International Confex, held at London’s ExCeL Arena on 25 and 26 February.
To promote the resort’s improved business tourism offer, the hotel brands at Confex include two of the resort’s new venues, The Boulevard and Hampton By Hilton, as well as established hotels such as The Imperial, Best Western Carlton, Royal Hotels Group and The Grand.
“Blackpool has a long-established reputation as a conference destination, but we need to tell the world that we are not trading on nostalgia,” Mandy Tythe-McCallum, business tourism manager for VisitBlackpool said.
“Our business tourism offer has benefited from the huge programme of resort regeneration that is underway. At the heart of our offer is the brand-new conference and exhibition centre that has been specifically designed to accommodate modern conferences and other large-scale events.
“Our message to conference organisers and delegates is to check out the site and take a fresh look at the transformational change that is being delivered here.”
Blackpool has already secured the return of the GMB union in 2020 and the Association of Inner Wheels Clubs in April 2021. The shopworkers’ union, Usdaw, has also confirmed it will return to Blackpool every year until at least 2024. The Conservative Party is also in discussions to hold conferences at the resort.
New facilities in Blackpool include a £28m conference centre which is currently being built next to the Winter Gardens. The venue will have an increased capacity to almost 8,000 delegates when it opens it doors for business in 2021. The first phase of investment includes the UK’s first flying theatre and a multi-media exhibition space.
Accommodation is also expanding, with three, four and five star hotels which are now open or under construction. The resort’s first five-star hotel, the 91-bedroom Sands Venue Resort Hotel on Central Promenade, is expected to open in time for the Illuminations from 4 September. Facilities include a luxury spa and a Wild West diner.
Transport links have improved, with direct daily services to UK cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, with five additional daily services to the capital due to begin in the early part of 2020. Grand Central will be running direct trains between Blackpool and London Euston later this year. The train company says it will be investing £21 million on trains to run daily services to the capital. A new tramway extension under construction that will have rail links to Blackpool’s seafront tramway.
Millions of pounds has been invested in the resort’s infrastructure including the remodelled seafront and the biggest range of branded visitor attractions outside of London.
Blackpool Museum is to open in June 2021, and the £13m venue will be called Showtown. Celebrating the resort’s reputation for light entertainment, it is divided into six themes: seaside, magic, shows, circus, illuminations and dance.
