With over 700 delegates across four editions, Music Tourism Convention has quickly become a key Music Cities Events brand, and for our latest and fourth edition we were beyond excited to take the event back to where it all began.
Liverpool is not only the city which hosted the first event in 2017, but also a global leader in music tourism and our 170 international delegates got to experience and learn all about the city’s music tourism offer and focus.
The event started on Sept 5th with a reception at the Museum of Liverpool, where delegates also got private access to the Double Fantasy exhibition, telling John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s story in their own words.
On Sept 6th, attendees met at another great Liverpool attraction, The British Music Experience, to learn from and exchange ideas with some of the world’s top music tourism experts.
The event kicked off with the official welcome by Andrew Stokes, England Director of VisitEngland, and Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, followed by a conversation on the power of music between Scott Booker, Manager of The Flaming Lips, and Shain Shapiro, Founder & CEO of Sound Diplomacy.
The first panel of the day, featuring music and city representatives from all over the UK, explored how the UK tourism industry is benefiting from music and introduced plans and ideas for the future, while a presentation by Liam Naughton, Manager of Kazimier Productions, highlighted the important role played by venues.
Just before lunch, Jeannette Varela, Project Manager of the Global Urban Holland campaign explained how music can be a fundamental tool to divert tourists from crowded destinations, while in the afternoon the convention continued with a roundtable session, a panel on USA music tourism and presentations from the cities of Duesseldorf and Liverpool.
Topics related to heritage tourism and sustainability at festivals were addressed in the last two presentations before the last panel of the day, which analysed how global brands and destination marketers are collaborating with content creators to reach new audiences.
Our fourth global Music Tourism Convention ended with a performance by the incredible Steve Azar, followed by the special unveiling of the first ever UK Mississippi Blues Trail marker, installed in Liverpool to celebrate the musical relationship between the British city and the US State.
The day was then rounded off with an evening reception with drinks and live music in the immersive atmosphere of The British Music Experience.
We’d like to thank our partners Marketing Liverpool and VisitBritain, our sponsors, speakers and delegates for making the fourth Music Tourism Convention so memorable. As launched at the event, our next edition will take place in Cleveland, Mississippi on Sept 29 - Oct 01 2020!