Even Tourism “Hot Spots” Like Plymouth Need More Attractions

So says the National Marine Aquarium's Dr David Gibson. He then went on to suggest that   it must be clear whether the trumpeted £21million History Centre is one of those – or just for the people of Plymouth.

Dr Gibson is the sector contact for the tourism and leisure priority sector, and has often been quoted in the local Plymouth press calling for another major attraction to help the NMA pull visitors into the city – and asking whether expanding the North Hill museum will do the trick.

He said: "Plymouth needs one or two more national quality attractions to give it the critical mass for people to come and stay for a weekend. York is a similar size to Plymouth and has about five attractions, pulling in 250,000 people or more.

Even Plymouth needs more attractions

"Bristol has its zoo and that attracts 500,000 people a year. Successful cities have three or four attractions bringing in 250,000 people or more. If we want our tourist economy to take off we need to move on from events tourism to having 'sticking' power."

He said this would benefit the city's coffers, going on to explain that for every £10 of daily spend in a tourist attraction, up to £50 is spent by visitors in the wider economy. "If a family of four comes to Plymouth the wider city gets about £200 minimum," he said. "But it depends on what market we pitch at."

Dr Gibson is a supporter of  Plymouth City Council's plan to triple the size of the City Museum, on North Hill, by 2018. But he said: "It's a great project, but needs to be clear in what it's trying to achieve.

"It needs to decide if it's a national attraction or servicing the local community and local needs. Plymouth deserves a very good centre to celebrate its heritage and history – but that may not appeal to a national audience. So it needs to decide early what audience it's aiming at."

A multi-million pound budget was on hand -  "there is enough to build a national quality attraction, but the subject matter needs to be right". It needs to be a national attraction of national quality, with a subject matter that appeals to a broad demographic, something people will travel to see," he said.
Dr Gibson said the city is currently missing a "celebration of maritime heritage and history".

He can see the potential that is on offer in the upcoming Mayflower 2020 celebrations, which will mark the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers' sailing. But he stressed: "We need to have some national scale ambition around that date."

He has praise for Destination Plymouth, and said: "It's fantastic to see it getting into its stride."
But having said that,  he was sorry to see the landmark Big Wheel leave Plymouth's Hoe last month, although felt that its loss would not greatly hit the city's tourist economy. "It's a shame the wheel has moved on," he said. "But the economic impact has been minimal. There were 45,000 visitors last year but it was not drawing new comers into Plymouth." But Dr Gibson said it would still be missed because "major cities are expected to have a wheel" now.

                                                                Plymouth Tourism