Joe GallopLiverpool’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 gave the local economy a £54.8million economic boost, new research commissioned by Liverpool City Council has found.
In total 473,000 people attended Eurovision events in the city, with 306,000 additional visitors heading to Liverpool to be part of the celebrations. In May, 175,000 city centre hotel rooms were sold – the best month on record since 2018, according to STEAM data.
The research also found that 96% of those surveyed would recommend Liverpool as a destination to visit, while 42% of overseas visitors said the city’s staging of the event had a positive impact on how they viewed the UK.
Other data highlights include:
- The Culture Liverpool curated two-week EuroFestival attracted an audience of 326,039. The festival presented 24 new commissions, 19 of which were in collaboration with Ukrainian artists. It involved 557 artists and 1,750 participants.
- The official Eurovision Village attracted 250,000 visitors across the 10 days it was open.
- In a survey, 89% of those questioned felt Liverpool was a safe event and 88% praised its inclusivity.
- More than 50,000 tonnes of waste was collected throughout the Eurovision period, 80% of which could be recycled.
- The education and community programmes, EuroStreet and EuroLearn, engaged with 367 organisations and directly with 50,000 people. The overall programme is estimated to have reached 2 million people.
Residents’ reaction
When it came to civic pride, 80% of residents noted how important it was for Liverpool and a further 93% said they were pleased with how the city delivered the event.
Of those questioned, 74% were enthusiastic about Liverpool hosting on behalf of Ukraine and 71% felt that the city’s leading role promoted positive feelings across all of the participating nations.
In total, 475 people provided 12,000 hours of volunteering, covering 350 shifts. The majority (90%) were from the North West of England and 30 were Ukrainian. A Eurovision job recruitment fair saw 394 jobs offered in one day.
A partnership between the BBC and Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts saw 145 students become part of the Eurovision production – in roles such as on-stage dancers in the live shows, costume makers or in the TV production team.
Eurovision minister Stuart Andrew said, “It is fantastic to see the impact that hosting the Eurovision Song Contest has had on Liverpool. The city put on a fantastic display of culture and creativity, showing solidarity with our friends in Ukraine and highlighting what unites us all.”
Liverpool’s director of culture Claire McColgan CBE said, “I’d like to say to everyone – whether you worked on the event, donned those iconic yellow hoodies and volunteered, performed on stage or on our streets, danced at the Village, sang along at the arena or perhaps you discovered more about Ukraine in the classroom or even helped evaluate the event – thank you. You made Eurovision. Liverpool made Eurovision. We were all united by music.”