Leicester City could boost UK’s football tourism

THE VALUE of football tourism to the UK’s visitor economy could be in for a boost following Leicester City’s historic Premier League win, with the country in the global spotlight as the ‘home of football’, according to Visit Britain.  

#Football is the number one sporting draw for international tourists to Britain and VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said that Leicester could expect a visitor boost with the city now on the global football tourism map.

‘#LeicesterCity’s fantastic win is truly the stuff of legends and has thrust the players, the fans, the city and Britain as the home of football into the global spotlight.

‘Football has mass international appeal and a global fan base of billions and we know that people like to visit the home of their sporting heroes. We encourage visitors from all over the world to travel to Britain and enjoy a Barclays Premier League football match with our Football is GREAT campaign, as part of our drive to get tourists out exploring more of regional Britain.’

Leicester received 155,000 international visits in 2014 with numbers showing steady increases, with130,000 visits in 2012 and 145,000 in 2013. 

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£55 million ‘Richard III dividend’ for Leicester

LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL has reported that the ‘Richard III effect’ has generated a £55 million boost to the city’s economy over the past year.

The council says the £55 million estimate represents the amount of cash spent in the city which has been directly influenced by interest in Richard III, who was reinterred at Leicester Cathedral a year ago.

Sarah Harrison, at Leicester city council, said: ‘The total figure is calculated using visitor figures from the Richard III visitor centre and the cathedral. We estimate that 10 percent of those people would have come from overseas, and so would need accommodation, and 38 percent came from other parts of the UK, so some of those would need hotel rooms, too.’

Hotels are said to be benefiting from the increase in tourist numbers since the discovery of Richard III’s body, with 80 percent of rooms being occupied regularly. The rise in overnight stays and visitors is estimated to have been worth an additional £5 million in revenue for businesses such as hotels, cafes, pubs, and B&Bs over the past year.


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Picture Credit: Service of Compline for the Reception of the Remains of King Richard III</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin

They’re winners!

GOLD #awards were won by 13 tourism businesses at the annual Leicester and Leicestershire Excellence in Tourism Awards 2015. 

The will be re-judged for the national #VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2016.

The winners included:

Accommodation Provider: Mercure Leicester, The Grand Hotel – Gold 

Tourism Event: Melton Mowbray Victorian Fayre 

Small Visitor Attraction: Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre 

Taste of England Award: The White Peacock 

Large Visitor Attraction: King Richard III Visitor Centre

Access for All Tourism Award: Attenborough Arts Centre

Sustainable Tourism Award: Horseshoe Cottage Farm

Tourism Pub of the Year: The Belper Arms 

Tourism Experience: King Richard III Re-interment

Holiday Park of the Year/Self Catering Provider: Eye Kettleby Lakes/The Dandelion Hideaway

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48520501@N02/20689207709">The Battle of Bosworth Anniversary Weekend 2015</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license)

Rugby World Cup worth almost £1 billion in tourist spending

TRAVEL search engine GoEuro.co.uk has calculated that the 2015 #RugbyWorldCup (September 18-October 31) will generate almost £1 billion for the transport and tourism industry. 

The UK will host 20 teams, more than 440,000 international visitors, and 2.2 million Brits in 11 cities. London will be the biggest winner, with 17 matches earning the city more than £197 million in transport, accommodation, merchandise, and food and drink spending.

The calculation excludes the cost of match tickets in the host cities, which are: London, Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Gloucester, Exeter, Milton Keynes, and Brighton.

www.goeuro.co.uk

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23517896@N07/3501176054">IMG_2256</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

A king re-buried

FOLLOWING the discovery of his remains in Leicester in 2013, Richard III will be laid to rest at a reinterment ceremony at Leicester Cathedral in March. 

The reinterment will involve a series of events over several days starting on March 22 with the re-burial itself on March 26. Visitors can learn more about his dynasty, death and discovery at the King Richard III Visitor Centre in the city, or by visiting the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre.

www.kingrichardinleicester.com and www.bosworthbattlefield.com

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Picture Credit: "King Richard III" by Unknown - Scanned from the book The National Portrait Gallery History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Williamson, ISBN 1855142287 via Wikimedia Commons

Have a laugh in Leicester

DAVE'S LEICESTER COMEDY FESTIVAL is rated by The Guardian newspaper as one of the planet’s top five comedy festivals. 

This year’s festival (February 4-22) will feature a record-breaking number of comedians and events in more than 50 city venues.

Laughter-makers include Johnny Vegas, Dylan Moran, John Shuttleworth, Josie Long, Mark Thomas, Mark Watson, and Nina Conti.

www.comedy-festival.co.uk

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Picture Credit: 'Leicester Comedy Festival' by NotFromUtrecht (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons.

Top spots …

• THE Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester has been voted the UK’s top tourist attraction by the British Guild of Travel Writers. Runners up in the UK category were the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, and the Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Wiltshire.

http://www.leicester.gov.uk/kingrichardiiivisitorcentre/index.html
http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/sam-wanamaker-playhouse
http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/

• The Andreasstrasse Memorial & Education Centre, Erfurt, Germany, took top honours in the European section. The centre commemorates resistance in Thuringia to East Germany’s communist government and the secret police from 1949 to 1989. The government ran a pre-trial detention centre in Erfurt, where more than 5,000 people who had opposed the regime were imprisoned. 

http://www.thuringia-tourism.com/travel-hotel-holiday-tour/index.html

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Richard III centre to open next month

TICKETS have gone on sale for the King Richard III Visitor Centre: Dynasty, Death and Discovery in Leicester, which opens on July 26.

The exhibition recounts the life and death of the king, including the events that led to his burial and eventual re-discovery in a Leicester car park in August 2012.

One of the exhibits will be a detailed facial reconstruction Richard III, plus a replica of his skeleton that shows his battle injuries, including the fatal blow.

The announcement of the opening date of the visitor centre follows the recent legal ruling that the king will be re-interred in Leicester Cathedral and not, as many in Yorkshire wanted, in York Minster.

Timed tickets are available now from www.kingrichardiiivisitorcentre.com. Prices start at £4.75 for children (three to 15 years), £7.95 for adults, and £21.50 for a family (two adults and two children). A concessionary rate of £7.00 will also be available.

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Half term at the National Space Centre

THE National Space Centre, Leicester, will be building giant, dirty, snowballs, dispelling the myths relating to planet killing asteroids, and inviting visitors to handle billion-year- old rocks from space this half term (May 24-June 1).

Build your very own comet to take home – Discover how comets are made.

Discover the facts of Planet Killers and Life Bringers – learn the amazing truth behind comets, meteors and asteroids.

See a real life comet being made – see a giant dirty snowball hurtling through space, brought to life on the Space Now Stage.

Take a tour of the night sky – Sit back in Britain’s largest planetarium and discover what you can see in the night sky.  The show takes you through the planets, stars, and constellations.

www.spacecentre.co.uk

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