Destination report |
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champion Hugh Porter, to gold medal-winning javelin star Tessa Sanderson and ex-international footballer Steve Bull.
While rightly proud of its star and industrial heritage, Wolverhampton is now very much focused on the future, and the City Council has a plan that not only involves Wolverhampton hosting more major national and international events but being able to do so with a much-improved infrastructure of facilities.
Aside from the major investment in the University of Wolverhampton at The Halls, the city has secured over £ 100m of key visitor economy infrastructure projects, including the transport Interchange connecting visitors to the city better than ever before, and major public realm works creating more events spaces and an improved environment for all.
The city is also hosting the semis and final of the Kabaddi World Cup, which is coming to the West Midlands in March 2025.
New destination management and nighttime economy strategies are also being developed by the council to further boost visitor numbers and the economic and social benefits that brings.
The citywide investment programme goes beyond events: Living schemes such as Canalside South, City Centre
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West, St George’ s, The Royal Quarter and Sunbeam are all regenerating neglected brownfield sites and there are plans to build more than 6,500 new homes, part of £ 2.6bn worth of investment and set to deliver 4,000 jobs and supply chain opportunities.
Visitor economy A study by independent tourism research body Global Tourism Solutions and West Midlands Growth Company, in 2023, put Wolverhampton’ s visitor economy as worth £ 458m, up 12.8 % from the previous year.
That report showed Wolverhampton
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Above: The railway station, part of a new £ 150m transport Interchange |
attracted more than 10m visitors in 2023, an increase on 2022’ s 9.8m; and the numbers of full-time equivalent jobs supported by direct and indirect tourism activities rose by 5.6 %.
Councillor Burden, again:“ Giving visitors reasons to stay longer and support local businesses is a priority for the council, backed by our exciting and broad culture and events programme.”
He added:“ Creating an exciting place that works in the round is important to the city’ s future and the meetings and events sector offers us great potential for growth in terms of jobs and investment.
“ As we continue to deliver our five-year events strategy, it genuinely feels that the city’ s offer now is a competitive one and we are going to continue to invest in a way that makes sense for Wolverhampton. We’ re very ambitious, we know we’ re not a Birmingham or a Manchester, but we can be very exciting, nonetheless, in a slightly different space.” n
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Left: Wolverhampton Pride |
n For more information on how you can deliver events in Wolverhampton and the wider West Midlands region, visit: meetbirmingham. com bcb. conferencesales @ wmgrowth. com |