Blackpool is one of the UK’s best-known seaside destinations, welcoming visitors for its iconic attractions, entertainment and family-friendly experiences. From the historic Blackpool Tower and its famous ballroom to the Winter Gardens entertainment complex, the resort brings together a diverse mix of visitor experiences.
On the floor at IAAPA Expo Europe 2026, Kate Shane MBE, Managing Director of Blackpool Tourism Limited, joined accesso® CEO Lee Cowie for the accesso Podcast. They talked about why the resort’s attractions have more to gain by marketing Blackpool together and what it takes to keep a seaside break within reach for families.
How did you first get involved in Blackpool?
Kate: It was a family move, if I’m honest with you. I was born in Southport, another seaside destination just a bit further south on the coast. My parents had a country pub and restaurant, so I was born into hospitality. It’s in my blood.
When I was a teenager, they said they were selling that business, going into accommodation and we were going to live in Blackpool. To me, that was bonkers. It was a place we went for day trips or a couple of nights away. It was just a crazy, fun-filled world.
I started off as a trainee accountant for First Leisure in 1987. I’ve worked around the Northwest, in Manchester and in different industries, but it’s leisure and tourism that’s in my blood. I get paid to make people smile.
We get paid to give people a memory they’ll hopefully reflect on as life goes on and want to share or try to recreate with family and friends. I got the opportunity to come back, and that evolved into working for Merlin at Blackpool Tower. We’ve since formed Blackpool Tourism Limited, a company wholly owned by the local authority, and we’re operating its leisure assets. Blackpool Tower, with the ballroom and the circus, is a big piece of my heart. This year we took over the Winter Gardens as well, with another ballroom, a conference centre and a theatre.
What’s the vision for One Blackpool?
Kate: Historically, Blackpool’s major attractions had different operators, one of which was Merlin. We all had our own budgets and targets to deliver, so people existed within their own worlds. It had an impact on how we worked together as a destination.
It’s about getting people to come to us and then being the best in your world so people will come and see you. Our competition is other seaside towns, city breaks, whatever. In this role, I’m technically public sector but very much involved with the private sector. It’s allowed me to open up conversations with operators and business owners in the resort.
Think about the amount everybody was spending on their own bits. If we have a destination campaign everybody’s involved in and then do our own brands, we can reach people in a much more effective way.
We’ve got great business leaders who want to be involved. We’ve taken what we do with the tourism business improvement district and got the right people around the table to share their challenges and opportunities. Sometimes they just need a little bit of help to make those ideas a reality.
What are the biggest challenges facing UK destinations?
Kate: It’s different for different destinations. Blackpool is mostly a domestic market, and for us, a lot of our visitors are families looking for value. The cost of living is hurting those families more than people with a bit more money to spend. The challenge for us is to be seen as an ambitious resort destination while staying affordable. Value for money is important, but they’ve got to be able to afford to do it in the first place.
What you’ve brought to us has allowed us to get the message and the package to the consumer in a way that lets us grow yield. We’ve seen yield growth, and we’ve been able to package tickets and work with other operators in the resort. We didn’t think we’d get there as easily as we did. They could see what the ambition was and what we wanted to do.
I also run businesses in these creaking old buildings, so there’s the cost of that. I sold my soul to the attractions industry because it does get in your blood.
If your venues could talk, what would you ask them?
Kate: The main one for me is the why. Why has that visitor chosen to come to see us? What process did they go through? We spend a lot of money on marketing, but I’d like to ask the business who’s been, why they’ve been and what led to their decision to purchase. And how can we do more of that so we can reach more of those people?
We can find things in segments, but we don’t put them together to tell the story. Did they buy one ticket? Two attraction tickets? They could have bought a four-attraction ticket for a fraction more. Was it the messaging, or was it how we got them there? It’s about understanding that and putting our marketing spend in the right places, both to make people aware and to get them to that “I’m going to make that transaction” decision.
How have you found working with accesso?
Kate: For us, it’s a relationship. It feels like there’s passion there and a desire to be successful and to achieve. They want to know what we want out of it so they can deliver it. That doesn’t happen very often.
When I’m at a board meeting and I talk about how we’ve grown ticket yield, how we’ve worked on pricing and how we get our message to the customer, they’re impressed. The culture resonates with us and, without exception, our team love working on projects with you.
Listen to the accesso Podcast
Hear more conversations with the people who run attractions and create experiences guests come back for.