What do King Richard III, Buzz Aldrin, Shakespeare, Richard Attenborough, Joe Orton and Sue Townsend have in common? Sarah Harrison, City Centre Director, tells us about Uncover the Story, the exciting new tourism campaign for Leicester and Leicestershire
Gripping Tales T
he value of tourism to Leicester and Leicestershire pre-pandemic was £1.96bn and supported around 23,000 jobs*. Twelve million visitors visited our attractions, ate in local restaurants, went to the theatre, shopped and stayed in our hotels. If all the new hotels planned in the city centre are developed, there will be a 159% increase in bed spaces over the next few years. Following hot on the heels of the opening in January 2020 of the Novotel and Adagio hotel complex are the Travelodge, Haymarket Shopping Centre, and the soon-to-open aparthotel at The Gresham: the former Fenwick unit in Market Street. The Place Marketing Team has established a new business tourism service to secure conferences and events in the city and county. The tourism and hospitality sectors have been most impacted by the Covid restrictions and, in Leicester, we saw a 74% decrease* in visitor numbers in 2020. The delay in the final step in the Government’s roadmap to at least July 19 has been a setback to businesses that benefit from tourism. Providing much-needed support to these businesses is a priority. The aim is to get more tourists staying overnight in the city and supporting our economy. Most people have heard of the incredible story of the anointed King of England who was found under a council car park and the CSI-style investigation that followed to confirm his identity as Richard III. It was a cracking story that captivated the attention of the world and really put the area on the map. What we discovered was that we
have a wealth of other unique stories to share and we could use them to invite visitors to Uncover the Story of our area. The Uncover the Story campaign is designed to promote the area through the intriguing and quirky stories that sit behind our great visitor attractions. The more stories you read, the more you want to uncover what the area can offer the visitor. Leicester has over 2,000 years of history, so is full of great stories. It's where one of the first English Parliament was held, where the last Plantagenet King of England is reinterred, where Thomas Cook developed modern tourism, the Attenborough brothers developed their love of natural history and acting, and where one of the greatest footballing stories of all time was created. To add to this, why are we known as Space City and why do we have Buzz Aldrin’s Space underpants? Where in Leicester can you dine in a medieval wool merchant’s house, an Edwardian banking hall, a former knitwear factory or one of the oldest grammar schools in England? How did the Golden Mile get its name? We have four of the rarest beam engines in working order in the world, but what have they got to do with going to the toilet? Can we claim to have theatre in our blood through our connections to Shakespeare, Richard Attenborough and Sue Townsend? Why did the city’s Guildhall get involved in some of our greatest national dramas including the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the English Civil War? If you want to find the answers you’ll just have to visitvisitleicester.info/uncoverthestory.
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*STEAM ECONOMIC IMPACT DATA 2020
