One of the busiest days of the year in Blackpool could be under threat, as it has been announced that for the first time ever, visitors to the annual illuminations switch-on ceremony will have to pay to attend the event. This special occasion has always been a big boost but this plan could well put off many potential visitors in the future.
Marketing Blackpool – an arms length division of Blackpool Borough Council – state that the popular event ‘must operate on a more commercial footing’. The ceremony is due to be held from the new Festival Headland site near the Tower for the first time in 2012, after being held in Central Car Park for several years. It is also claimed that in future years, the celebrity who has the honour of flicking the famous switch may be paid an appearance fee, something which has never happened before! This is a rather strange move; as recently as
2010, pop superstar Robbie Williams did the honours, so attracting famous names to appear free of charge hasn’t been an issue. Although 3,000 tickets are to be given away free to local residents, a further 20,000 will be sold and predictably this has angered many people who attend the ceremony each year.
Although this news doesn’t directly affect the Blackpool tramway, if attendance figures for the big switch-on event suffer then this could well have an impact on passenger numbers on this traditionally hectic evening. The opening of the Tower Headland may also cause problems for the trams as, if the event continues to attract the same massive crowds, even more of these people are expected to spill onto the tram tracks than in the past, both before and after the switch-on takes place. In 2011 the Police took the decision to close off
both the promenade road and the tramway between Central and North Piers, which caused mayhem for the trams as only one tram was north of the Metropole Hotel at this time and duly had to operate most of the system by itself! Hopefully this shambolic situation will not be repeated next year, but only time will tell how things pan out.