Cheshire tourism worth £3.9bn a year

New figures show tourism in Cheshire was worth £3.9bn in 2023 with visitor numbers exceeding pre-COVID levels. Tony McDonough reports

Rowers on the River Dee at Chester. Picture by Kat Hannon / Marketing Cheshire

Value of tourism is now close to £4bn a year, new figures show.

Analysis by Marketing Cheshire from the latest STEAM economic impact report shows the county’s visitor economy was worth £3.9bn in 2023, up from £3.41bn in 2022, with more than 56m visitor days recorded across the year.

Cheshire offers multiple visitor attractions and experiences including Gulliver’s World theme park in Warrington, Chester Zoo, Jodrell Bank’s Discovery Centre, Tatton Park and Chester city centre.

Day visitor numbers were 2.4% higher than 2022 and the number of people choosing to stay for one night or more in Cheshire and Warrington continues to increase.

In 2023 a total 3.75m people enjoyed an overnight stay in the region – a 4.1% annual rise and eclipsing the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 3.69m. Overnight stays as well as overall visits also rose in all three local authority areas.

In Cheshire East, visitor days rose from 14.55m in 2022 to 14.99m in 2023 with its visitor economy valued at more than £1bn. In Cheshire West and Chester, visitor days rose from 30.93m in 2022 to 31.44m in 2023 and its visitor economy is now worth £2.26bn.

And in Warrington, visitor days increased from 9.33m in 2022 to 9.663m in 2023 with its visitor economy valued at £639.41m.

Employment in the visitor economy continues to grow – the region as a whole saw an 8.6% rise in jobs and employed 38,006 people in this sector in 2023 – 6,170 in Warrington, 10,022 in Cheshire East and 21,814 in Cheshire West and Chester.

Trevor Brocklebank, chair of marketing Cheshire, said: “Comprising fantastic tourist attractions, superb accommodation providers, wonderful retail and exquisite areas of natural beauty, millions of people are flocking to our region.

“It is testament to a collective approach between tourism and council partners with businesses to make the region a unique place to work, live and visit.

“While we must not get complacent in testing economic times it is also extremely encouraging to see overnight stays eclipsing pre-pandemic figures.”

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