Sefton's visitor economy grew 5% to £716.9m in 2025 on 7.79m visits, but tourism jobs slipped again to 6,160 and visitor numbers are still below 2023.

Sefton’s visitor economy was worth £716.9 million in 2025, up 5 per cent on the year, on 7.79 million visits. Tourism in the borough supported 6,160 jobs.

Sefton Council called the figures “fantastic” and “a real vote of confidence” (Sefton Council).

The full research says something more mixed. The jobs figure is a fall, not a rise. And on the borough’s own published numbers, Sefton had fewer visitors in 2025 than it did two years earlier.

What the research actually found

The figures come from STEAM, the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor, produced independently by Global Tourism Solutions (UK) Ltd. It estimates visitor numbers, spending and jobs from accommodation occupancy, visitor surveys, transport information and tourism business intelligence.

The full Sefton entry, with the 2024 change published alongside it (Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership):

Measure 2025 Change in 2025 Change in 2024
Visitor economy £716.9m +5.0% -2.2%
Total visitors 7.79m +3.1% -4.8%
Day visitors 7.03m +3.3% -4.6%
Staying visitors 0.76m +1.1% -6.7%
Jobs supported 6,160 -0.3% -7.5%

The council’s own announcement carried the first three rows. It reported the jobs number as 6,160 “demonstrating the sector’s continuing importance”, without saying that it had gone down.

Sefton visitor economy, year-on-year percentage change in 2024 and 2025 Bar chart of five measures. Visitor economy fell 2.2 per cent in 2024 and rose 5.0 per cent in 2025. Total visitors fell 4.8 per cent then rose 3.1 per cent. Day visitors fell 4.6 per cent then rose 3.3 per cent. Staying visitors fell 6.7 per cent then rose 1.1 per cent. Jobs supported fell 7.5 per cent in 2024 and fell a further 0.3 per cent in 2025. Four measures bounced back in 2025. Jobs did not. Sefton borough, year-on-year percentage change as published in the STEAM results for each year. +5% 0 -5% -2.2 +5.0 -4.8 +3.1 -4.6 +3.3 -6.7 +1.1 -7.5 -0.3 Visitor economy Total visitors Day visitors Staying visitors Jobs 2024 2025 Graphic by Southport Today. Source: STEAM 2025 results, Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership.
Every measure fell in 2024. In 2025 four of the five recovered, but tourism employment fell for a second year.

Still below where it was in 2023

Put the two published years together and the picture changes again. This is our own arithmetic from the percentage changes above, so treat the results as approximate:

  • Visitors. Down 4.8 per cent, then up 3.1 per cent. Net, that is about 1.8 per cent fewer visits than in 2023, roughly 150,000 fewer.
  • Jobs. Down 7.5 per cent, then down 0.3 per cent. That points to around 6,700 tourism jobs in 2023, so roughly 500 fewer today.
  • Value. Down 2.2 per cent, then up 5 per cent. In cash terms that leaves the visitor economy about 2.7 per cent bigger than in 2023, before any allowance for prices rising in between.

So 2025 was a genuine recovery year. It has not yet undone 2024.

How Sefton compares in the city region

Liverpool City Region as a whole had a record year. Its visitor economy grew 9.3 per cent to £6.834 billion, on 61.54 million visits, supporting 57,591 jobs.

Sefton grew, but at roughly half the regional rate:

Borough Visitor economy 2025 Change Jobs Change
Liverpool £4.87bn +11.3% 40,329 +6.1%
Sefton £716.9m +5.0% 6,160 -0.3%
Wirral £547.5m +2.0% 4,825 -3.0%
Halton £225.4m +4.9% 2,165 +4.7%

Figures for Knowsley and St Helens were not published in the same release.

Two points worth pulling out. Sefton remains the second largest visitor economy in the city region, well clear of Wirral despite the two boroughs attracting almost identical visitor numbers, 7.79 million against 7.73 million. And Sefton and Wirral were the only two of the four published boroughs where tourism employment went down.

Natalie Wyatt, managing director of the Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership, said the region “deliberately adapted our marketing approach to drive more day visits” after 2024, and that “the next opportunity is to convert more of that demand into overnight stays”.

That is the pattern in Sefton’s numbers too. Day visits rose 3.3 per cent. Overnight stays rose 1.1 per cent, and at 760,000 they are still below 2023.

The Open is not in these figures

One thing to keep in mind before next year’s release. The 154th Open Championship was staged at Royal Birkdale in July 2026 (The R&A). That falls entirely outside the 2025 research published this month.

The events named in the council’s announcement as driving the 2025 figures were the Southport Air Show, Southport Flower Show, the Southport Food and Drink Festival and the British Musical Fireworks Championship, along with Salt & Tar in Bootle.

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Sefton Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for regeneration, economy and skills, said: “A visitor economy worth more than £700 million makes an enormous contribution to Sefton. It supports thousands of jobs, brings vital spending into local businesses and helps create opportunities in communities right across the borough.”

What it means for you

If you run a business that depends on visitors, the useful number here is not the £716.9 million. It is the split between day trippers and overnight guests.

Day visits are where the growth is, and they were 7.03 million of the 7.79 million total, about 90 per cent. Staying visitors are barely moving, which is why the regional partnership has named overnight stays as its next target. Cafes, shops and attractions are seeing the recovery first. Hotels and guest houses are not, and the employment figure reflects that.

For residents, the honest reading is that Sefton’s tourism sector had a better 2025 than 2024 without getting back to where it was. The test of whether that turns into a trend will be the 2026 figures, published next summer, and those will be the first to include The Open at Royal Birkdale.

If you are planning a visit yourself, our guide to things to do in Southport covers what is open and what it costs.