Blackpool Illuminations extended again after visitor boom

Council leader Lynn Williams said some businesses had reported "record levels of trading during the winter months"

Blackpool's famous Illuminations will once again be lit up for an extra two months after the resort saw a "dramatic rise in visitors" during 2022's extension, the council has said.

The annual display will run from 1 September 2023 to 1 January 2024.

Blackpool Council said a similar November and December extension in 2022 had seen an 18% increase in promenade footfall compared with 2021.

Authority leader Lynn Williams said the council had found a "winning formula".

She said the figures demonstrated the "very significant economic impact" of both the Illuminations and the council's Christmas By The Sea event, which ran from November to January on the Tower Festival Headland and included a free skating rink, artificial snowfalls, light projection shows and log cabins.

She said some businesses had reported "record levels of trading during the winter months".

"All of the statistical and anecdotal evidence... suggests that we have found a winning formula to extend Blackpool's season," she said.

"That is something we very much want to sustain and build upon."

A council representative said the figures also showed an footfall increase of almost 60% compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 when the Illuminations season ended in the first week of November.

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