LIVERPOOL: Named the 7th best city in the world by London-based Time Out in 2024, and also topping a UK poll for the best big city break.

I wonder what headlines the hospitality and tourism sector will attract by the end of 2025?

Liverpool City Council maintains that we’re on for record tourist numbers and record city centre hotel bookings for 2025.

From my experience of PR in the sector, retail, business tourism and conferences will have impacted hugely on those stats. Likewise the night time economy too.

Given there was no single driving factor in the city in July or August (even allowing for my mum celebrating her birthday in the latter month), the news feels even healthier.

According to the mayor’s office, around 60 million people now visit the city region each year, which means a £6 billion annual visitor economy that employs more than 73,000 locals.

Is Liverpool getting even better at leveraging its history, listed architecture, big ticket events, etc?

It’s important to celebrate the work of all the organisations above that are behind this – Culture Liverpool, Marketing Liverpool, Liverpool ONE Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to name but a few.

It’s also vital to recognise the people behind the phenomenal numbers.

I had an impromptu catch up with John Hughes last week in Castle Street and it made me think about some of the city’s unsung heroes, especially of the hospitality sector given the stats above.

Not that Toxteth-born John sees himself as such.

He’s been working closely with the Council, Merseyside Police, Liverpool BID Company and others for decades.

As the city’s go-to expert on all things night-time economy, he’s exacted respect from all of those organisations consistently down the years.

And, John’s also been able to adopt and deliver an ambassador-style role in securing the safety of this economy at a street level.

That’s an extremely rare quality to have and yes, I’m probably embarrassing John now.

But, and as I’ve always maintained down the years, what’s the point of being really good at what you do and not having that celebrated?

It takes many qualities to achieve what you’ve done and continue to do. You are the hidden success behind some of those stats, especially when it comes to Liverpool’s night time economy.

Well done John.