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Second Culture Bonanza

LIVERPOOL is celebrating the first anniversary of its Capital of Culture win by launching a cultural treat!

The city's second 20/08 festival was launched on June 4, a year to the day since the city was named European Capital of Culture 2008.

Tourism and cultural organisations throughout the city are being invited to help the city celebrate the first anniversary of the historic announcement by once again pledging their support to the festival. 

Culture bosses want the significant date in the city's calendar, 20th August 2004 to 20 Auhust 2008 to be an even bigger success than last year, when hundreds of organisations slashed prices, staged special events and even opened their doors for free.

To kick off this year's 20/08 celebrations, Arriva North West has begun a quest to make bus drivers in the European Capital of Culture more Euro-friendly, by giving them the chance to learn a foreign language for free!

Almost 60 bus drivers on Merseyside have already taken up the offer of courses in Spanish and Italian. Saying 'Hola!' and 'Ciao' to the city's tourists is now becoming a part of everyday life for many drivers. 
City Council Chief Executive David Henshaw said:- "Launching our second 20/08 festival on the first anniversary of our Capital of Culture win is a great way to celebrate Liverpool's tremendous cultural assets, and the huge progress we have made as a city since earning the title. 

Already signed up to this year's celebrations are organisers at the Southport Show, who are offering 100 free tickets for their shows between August 19 and 22."

Culture bosses hope to build on the success of last year's celebrations. Hundreds of local organisations signed-up in 2003 to give everyone the chance to enjoy the best of Liverpool life, learning, shopping, entertainment, heritage and culture.

TOURISM CHIEFS REPORT CONFERENCE EXHIBITION SUCCESS

MEMBERS of Sefton’s conference team have just returned from one of their most successful exhibitions yet for the diversity of potential business available.

More than 80 strong leads were obtained at The Times Crème Show in London which members of the

Conference and Corporate Sales Department attended for the first time.  The team was delighted with the range of organisations represented at the exhibition which is dedicated to executive secretaries, personal assistants, office managers and administrators.

Maxine McCarthy, Sefton’s Conference and Corporate Sales Manager, said:- “This was a very successful new exhibition which enabled the conference team to give detailed information on Southport and its facilities to a wide range of new buyers. We have the potential to generate a lot of business from this exhibition.”

Leads included Pepsi Cola, the John Lewis Group, Waitrose, Powergen UK, Cancer Research, Web for Women, JCHST, Royal College for Surgeons and Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Conference sizes vary from under 50 delegates to 2,000.

The success at this exhibition follows Confex 2004, Europe’s leading conference and business tourism exhibition. Members of the conference team and representatives from the resort’s hotels signed up four major conferences, booked eight familiarisation visits and received more than 50 strong leads from organisations interested in staging their conference in Southport. 


Adam Urbanowski, president of the Southport Hotels Association and Chairman of the resort’s Southport Tourism Business Network Conference Sub Group, added:- “Attending these exhibitions gives us the opportunity to present the resort of Southport in front of key buyers and decision makers that would not ordinarily consider a resort destination. The conference team has done a fabulous job in persuading conference buyers to bring their events to Southport.”

Following the success of recent exhibitions further booking have been made to attend the National Venue Show at the NEC in Birmingham from September 14 to 16, Meetings and Incentive Travel Show, Olympia, in London on October 6th and 7 and as a partner with VisitBritain to EITBM, an exhibition for the incentive, business travel and meetings industry, in Barcelona from November 30 until December 2.

Conference business is booming in Southport. Events booked this year will already bring more than 21,000 delegates to the resort and result in a £15 million boost for the local economy.

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