VISITOR ECONOMY TEAM BUDGET ONLY £38K

COUNCILLORS have suggested the local authority needs to invest more in its attempts to attract tourism to North East Lincolnshire.

- By IVAN MORRIS POXTON

The visitor economy is estimated to have been worth £724m in the area in 2024, yet the council's current visitor economy team budget is only £38,000.

Members of the council's economy, culture and tourism scrutiny panel felt more resource should go towards trying to attract visitors to the area.

The matter was discussed by the panel as it reviewed data on the 2024 year in tourism in North East Lincolnshire.

The Armed Forces Weekend last year attracted 220,000 visitors, Grimsby Auditorium's visitor numbers reached pre-Covid levels with almost 94,000 visitors, and Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre continued its recent upward visitor numbers trend. The heritage centre had 79,035 visitors, up 23 per cent on the year before, and 5,872 visitors went on the Ross Tiger, up 30 per cent.

Overall visitor numbers, however, fell slightly and so did the jobs tied to the visitor economy.

There were an estimated 8,640,000 tourist visitors to North East Lincolnshire, down 0.5 per cent. Jobs linked to the visitor economy fell by 1.6 per cent, though still accounted for over 6,300 roles.