Blackpool Unveils A Sparkling New Tourism Season

A busy year in Blackpool is expected, with a host of new gleaming attractions and events revealed to kick off the start of a new tourism season.

The highlights were revealed to an audience of hoteliers and other tourism businesses by VisitBlackpool and resort partners at the annual season launch, which took place in the new £30m Conference & Exhibition Centre inside the iconic Winter Gardens.

These included more than £15m of investment in new attractions, such as:

- The world’s first Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse on the Golden Mile.

- A new big cat enclosure at Blackpool Zoo.

- The highly-anticipated return of the award-winning Valhalla thrill ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

- A new three-tier Ninja assault course at Ascent Trampoline Park.

- A new multiplex cinema in the town centre featuring one of the country’s largest IMAX screens.

As well investment in new attractions, the revealing also saw:

- The planned opening of a new four-star Holiday Inn and Marco Pierre White restaurant.

- A 70-bedroom extension to the seafront Hampton By Hilton.

- The summer arrival of a Turtle Bay restaurant and newly-regenerated Abingdon Street Market with multiple food and drink concessions.

There's also plans for an exciting return of the annual Switch-On ceremony outdoors. For the past three years, the Switch-On has been performed indoors with a limited audience, largely due to COVID restrictions.

Philip Welsh, Head of Tourism & Communications for Blackpool Council said: "We are delighted that this year we are seeking to take the Switch-On ceremony back outdoors where everyone will be able to enjoy one of the biggest moments in our annual events calendar.”

Further details will be revealed in the weeks ahead, where the Illuminations will be turned on at the event as part of a free event with music and family entertainment.

On Sunday 7th May a royal celebration will take place to mark the King’s Coronation, featuring a tremendous heritage tram parade along the seafront and a Big Lunch outdoor picnic with live entertainment on the Tower Festival Headland.

The resort will also take part in the Lighting Up The Nation event that evening, with a distinctive Coronation-themed Illuminations display.

Plans for a two-month extension to the Illuminations season are also in place, with the lights shining nightly from September 1 until January 1, 2024.

Following the introduction of the giant Odyssey installation during 2022, the Illuminations team are working on three brand new installations for the 2023 season which will be unveiled over the coming months.

A crammed calendar of free events are to come including the two-day Blackpool Air Show with the Red Arrows performing on both days.

Other events include Ride The Lights, the World Fireworks Championships Blackpool, the award-winning Lightpool Festival and Christmas By The Sea.

A wide range of West End shows and live entertainment will be on offer at venues such as the Winter Gardens, the Grand Theatre and Pleasure Beach, including Six The Musical, Annie, Shrek The Musical, The Spongebob Musical, The Mousetrap and a new musical stage adaptation of Winnie The Pooh.

Sir Cliff Richard will also mark 60 years since he first performed a summer season in Blackpool with a concert at the Opera House.

A repeat of the “Only In Blackpool” destination marketing campaign is set to come developed in partnership with Merlin Entertainments and other resort partners, first unveiled last year.

The summer campaign will once again feature resort “ambassador” Nigel C Gull giving TV viewers a whistle-stop tour of the resort’s major attractions.

The launch event also saw the publication of a bumper free entertainment guide containing hundreds of listings for shows, musicals and concerts running from Easter to the end of the year at a number of venues including the piers and Viva Blackpool.

Philip Welsh, Head of Tourism & Communications for Blackpool Council, said “the scale of investment in the resort’s tourism offer showed the commitment by resort partners to build on the momentum gained over the past two years when Blackpool showed one of the fastest post-pandemic recoveries in the UK.

He added that Blackpool has seen record numbers of visitors coming to the resort in recent times.

"Some events attracted record crowds last year.

"We can’t be complacent. We have to keep adding compelling new reasons for people to come here.

“This season, it is fantastic to see so much private sector-led investment in new attractions, hotels, bars and restaurants, underpinned by a brilliant programme of world-class entertainment and free events."