INTRODUCTION

  Merseyside has developed and extended its visitor economy over the last decade.

  Official research figures indicate that the region is improving its competitive position and exceeding leisure expectations.

  A key element of this leisure and tourism market is the role of Mersey Ferries who are positioned as the region's largest paid for visitor attraction with the Mersey Ferries sightseeing "River Explorer" cruise attracting over half a million people each year.

  As a next stage in the development of "The Mersey Ferries Experience", it was decided that a high profile visitor attraction be established which would develop this 50 minute sightseeing experience into a competitive half day/full day attraction within this increasingly demanding sector.

  Mersey Ferries and its parent organisation Merseytravel (the Passenger Transport Executive for Merseyside), developed, through a partnership approach and public funding, a state of the art science and discovery centre—Spaceport.

  Spaceport is focused on showcasing the exploration of space and associated national curriculum principles that would be otherwise difficult to teach in a classroom environment.

  Whilst educationally informative, an equal emphasis is placed on fun and interactivity for visitors. The attraction is housed in a refurbished Grade II listed Seacombe Ferry terminal building, with space of approximately 22,000 square feet on two floors. It was seen from the outset as essential that Spaceport, as an attraction was operated as a viable and sustainable business entity.

  From its opening on 26th July 2005 Spaceport has created a major new tourism venue based upon the high profile Mersey Ferries' offer and an acknowledged strength of Merseyside in the field of astrophysics and astronomy, this developed with principal partners Liverpool John Moores University.

  The £10 million pound Spaceport development has increased the number of tourism visits to the area and provided additional employment, promoted regeneration and inward investment to a deprived area of Merseyside.

INITIAL FUNDING

  In January 2003 Spaceport was successful in its application to the Merseyside Objective One Programme in securing European Regional Development Funding.

  This, in addition to a number of other funding streams already in place, enabled construction and development work to commence in early 2003. It was anticipated that these funding streams would be additionally supported by private sector support and commercial partnerships over the short, medium and long term planning horizons, to ensure that the attraction remained commercially viable and sustainable in its operation.

  The strategic importance Spaceport is demonstrated in a number of important respects:

—  It teaches National Curriculum Keys Stage 2 and 3 concepts which would otherwise prove extremely difficult to teach in the classroom.

—  It fires an interest in astronomy and science generally particularly in order to inspire and encourage children to fill the skills gap and follow a science focused career path.

—  It enables the vast majority of visitors to take away a greater understanding of the role of space science and a better understanding of basic astronomical principals by providing information at a variety of levels.

—  It underpins the corporate business plan of Mersey Ferries and is one of the main actions supporting the target growth in passengers from the current 650,000 trips per annum to over 710,000 over the next five years.

—  It is a key component of the Mersey Waterfront Regional Park strategy, which is seeking balanced development on both sides of the river. Indeed, the development of Spaceport could be seen as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of the Wirral Waterfront.

—  It supports an important aspect of the further development of Liverpool John Moores University through extension of the Astrophysics Research Institute' role in promoting astrophysics and astronomy.

—  It is an important aspect of the further development of the Wirral Waterfront and the Wirral Strategic Investment Area in terms of building confidence and reversing decline.

—  Spaceport is a key component of the Liverpool region and Wirral Borough Council Tourism strategies.

—  It has involved the restoration of a Grade II listed building and, at the same time, created an enhanced ferry terminal and interchange for communities and tourists alike.

—  The Spaceport project included the renovation and improvement of a major transport gateway and interchange facility.

THE SPACEPORT VISITOR EXPERIENCE

  Spaceport takes its visitors on a virtual journey through Space and Time. The Spaceport Experience begins with a Blast Off simulation into space in the "Space Pod".

  Once out in space visitors can explore the Solar System with a variety of exciting interactives interspersed with planetary information and audiovisual exhibits explaining what it would be like to visit each of our planetary neighbours. Whilst in the Solar System visitors can take a trip in our Space Explorer craft and experience a wild and exciting ride through space.

  Moving on deeper into space through the Wormhole visitors encounter stars and galaxies in the Milky Way zone. Here visitors learn about the vacuum of space, about the lives and deaths of stars, tune in to pulsars and much more before embarking on a state of the art fully immersive voyage in the highlight of any visit to Spaceport, our Space Dome full motion video planetarium show. (This element along with the Space Explorer craft being designed so that films and software can regularly be changed to encourage repeat visits).

  After the 30 minute Space Dome show visitors enter our Universe zone to experience the Big Bang and the birth of the Universe before embarking upon a big screen quiz that challenges perceptions. Spaceport then moves from Cosmology to Science Fiction in the "Alien Zone" where visitors can become a cosmic newsreader and take a light hearted look at views of the future.

  Finally no visit would be complete with visiting The Final Frontier our hyperspace store!

SPACEPORT SCHOOLS

  Spaceport is the home of the National Schools Observatory (an initiative to provide school children with access to large professional telescopes) working closely with its partner John Moores University. Spaceport is an immersive education attraction with direct links to the Science/Astronomy curriculum (Key Stage 2 and 3).

  Spaceport makes learning fun and aims to inspire children to follow a career in science. Spaceport has, on average, 10 schools per week visiting from all five of the local authority areas and beyond (Wales, Cheshire and even the Midlands have travelled to visit.

  Class sizes vary, but on average we greet 30—35 children per class—some schools even bring the whole year, arriving in fleets of coaches. Many teachers are returning with their classes each year to get across those concepts which are difficult to teach in the classroom and the school business has grown enormously in the last 12 months.

  Spaceport's content is built to a large extent around the National Curriculum but presents all the concepts in an entertaining and interactive way within a safe and controlled environment. Worksheets are available free of charge covering Key Stage 2 and 3 space topics and all teachers and supervisors enter free with every six paying students.

KEY STAGE 2

  The following parts of the year 5 space curriculum are featured at Spaceport:

  The Solar System and accompanying worksheets cover:

—  That the Sun, Moon and Earth are approximately spherical.

—  The relative sizes of the Sun, Moon and Earth.

—  The moon takes about 28 days to orbit Earth.

—  The Earth takes a year to orbit the Sun.

KEY STAGE 3

  The following parts of the year 7 space curriculum are featured at Spaceport:

  The Solar System and accompanying worksheets cover:

—  The position of the Sun, Moon and Earth.

—  The phases of the Moon.

—  What causes the seasons?

—  The Solar System and what it includes.

—  The order of the planets.

—  Details of conditions on other planets.

—  Relative sizes and distances of planets from the Sun.

  The Milky Way covers constellations

  The Universe covers the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

  All North West schools are mailed each term with the latest updates and news from Spaceport and Spaceport works closely to ensure that the exhibition evolves in conjunction with teacher's needs. Dedicated facilities for schools include a pack lunch area are provided free of charge and Spaceport is sited at a significant public transport interchange with coach parking, bus and ferry access.

PLANS TO FURTHER DEVELOP THE SCHOOLS MARKET

  With additional funding Spaceport could further evolve its Outreach programme in order to provide lessons in schools and take possibly a mobile inflatable planetarium into schools to teach constellations and planetary information. This could further support both the pre and post visit to Spaceport and assist with class project work.

  In addition, it would be possible, with additional funding to evolve the outreach work into a touring provision of interactive experiments to assist teachers with equipment normally not available within the standard school laboratory.

  The funding for an education officer to develop this programme and the hardware and transportation costs could currently not be justified within Spaceport's existing operational budget.

ENGAGING THE PUBLIC AND YOUNG PEOPLE

  Since opening Spaceport run a number of exhibitions and open days to engage the public and young people in science.

  Some of these are detailed in the press releases but the range from the Astronomy Days held in partnership with John Moores University where world famous astronomers have spoken to the public at Spaceport to the Doctor Who Exhibition held from 30 September 2006 to 10 January 2007 which attracted 60,000 new visitors to Spaceport, drawn by the hook of Doctor Who but who also all enjoyed the educational dimensions of the attraction.

SATISFACTION WITH SPACEPORT

  Independent research recently carried out by MORI at Spaceport at the end of 2006 found that 97% of people were either satisfied or very satisfied with their visit to Spaceport.

FUNDING AND FINANCIAL ISSUES

  Experience shows that in general the first two years are the best two years for visitor numbers for most centres of this type.

  The initial high profile launch of the attraction and novelty for those with an interest in its subject quickly draws in a high number of people. In order to generate sufficient visits in future years requires investment in marketing to reach people further away from the centre and investment in changing the content and visitor experience to encourage repeat visits.

  Experience at Spaceport has shown that the schools market is continuing to grow and schools will repeat visit every year provided that the teacher is satisfied that the content still meets the national curriculum requirements. Again the investment here is really in keeping the content topical and relevant.

  At some future point Spaceport will require internal refurbishment and replacement of the AV hardware, interactive and interpretative materials. The cost for a complete refit would in the region of £4 million and could not be accommodated by Spaceport's operational budget.

  Spaceport charges £7.50 for and adult, £5.00 for a child and £21.00 for a family of five. This was increased in the second year of operation and is felt to be at level, which optimizes visits and overall revenue from circa 100,000 visitors per year.

June 2007