Hoteliers today welcomed a decision to return the Illuminations Switch-On to a free event – providing it does not reduce the impact of the Lights curtain-raiser. Blackpool Council, which has taken the running of the ceremony back in-house following last year’s financial losses, has announced there will be no charge to attend this year’s concert on the Tower Festival Headland. Coun Graham Cain, cabinet member for tourism, also said the Switch-On would once more be shown on screens on other parts of the Promenade, and would be part of a weekend-long festival.Hoteliers today said there needs to be a good quality line-up at the event.Claire Smith, president of StayBlackpool, said; “I would have been happy for there to be a nominal fee and I hope making it free isn’t to the detriment of the quality of the event.“Big names bring in publicity and we need the world to know the Illuminations are being switched on and will be on for three months.People had paid £34 for a ticket to the show which still went ahead after Take That star Gary Barlow stepped in.Shirley Hunt, of the Friends of the Illuminations, said: “It is good for the people of Blackpool that the ceremony is going to be free, but it does cost money to stage the Switch-On and I would not like the Illuminations themselves to suffer. “I’m pleased they are going to have the screens on the Promenade again.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 18:18:10 +0000