Three Queens spectacular was an ‘unprecedented’ success for the city, says culture chief

Liverpool’s Three Queens spectacular was the biggest waterfront event in the history of the city, Liverpool’s Culture Chief Claire McColgan, told an international audience today.

Addressing delegates at the Liverpool International Waterfront Forum (LIWF), Claire who is the Director of Culture Liverpool, said the event over the bank holiday weekend was “unprecedented” in its success.

Ms McColgan said it will be several weeks before a full economic impact assessment will be completed but it is believed the Three Queens, held to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Cunard Line, has exceeded all expectations with an estimated 1.3m gathered on both sides of the River Mersey to see the cruise vessels Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in the river at the same time.

“The full assessment of the economic impact will take about six weeks but anecdotally it looks like the impact of the Three Queens will have been bigger than any waterfront event we have staged before”.

Because the event is free, it is estimated that each city centre visitor would have spent an average of £12 on the day of the event and it is believed the analysis could show the overall impact will have matched or even exceeded that of the return of the ‘Giants Spectacular’ event in Liverpool last year.

After a string of event successes, Ms McColgan today offered delegates at the LIWF, who have come from a number of cities including Barcelona, Sydney, Cape Town, Glasgow, Belfast and Bristol, a master-class in waterfront event planning.

Since it was announced a decade ago that Liverpool would be European Capital of Culture in 2008, the city has seen a number of events that have attracted huge crowds.
Ms McColgan added: “The challenge is to stage an event that has a real creative thread and a narrative so that it stays longer in peoples’ memories.”

LIWF is a global platform for waterfront cities to come together to discuss common themes and “build stronger international alliances”.

The forum, which was created in a partnership between Liverpool Waterfront Business Partnership and international consultancy Arup, is this year being held over two days at the Cunard Building.

This weekend in Liverpool sees the 2015 International Mersey River Festival.