PHOTO: The city on the Mersey has a detailed history as one of the empire’s top port cities.

Many imagine Liverpool as a tough, grimy, rust-bowl remnant whose only real claim to fame is as the industrial incubator that gave the world the Beatles. At more than 800 years of age, the city is much more than that in historic significance and as a pleasant destination for visitors. The town (www.liverpool-one.com) has some of the best shopping in the U.K., great museums, bars and restaurants. There was a time, during the Industrial Revolution, when it was second only in significance to London in the financial rankings of the U.K. Then Liverpool played a major role as a port connecting the mills of Northern England with the cotton plantations of the American South. It was also a leading departure port for emigrants to the Americas. For those reasons, and because it was an important catalyst in the expansion of the British Empire, UNESCO made its waterfront a World Heritage Site.

Albert Dock is the center of the waterfront whence visitors take Mersey River cruises and visit such museums as the Museum of Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the Tate Liverpool and others. Perhaps the city’s greatest visual arts piece lies three miles north of town on Crosby Beach, where artist Antony Gormley across a two-mile area of the sand installed 31 identical life-size, full-bodied self-portraits facing out to the sea.

As Duncan Frazer of Liverpool Marketing succinctly put it, “Liverpool was always strong; the Beatles only made it stronger.” This past Feb. 9 marked the 50th anniversary of when the Beatles first appeared on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” bringing with them the first ray of positive light after the assassination of J.F.K., which had happened only a few months earlier. It was one of those events that gets many Americans of a certain age remembering or, at least, imagining they remember where they were that night 50 years ago.

“Really, Liverpool has two major hooks: our football clubs and the Beatles,” said Frazer. “Football is a major market in the U.K., Europe and other football- (soccer-) loving markets, but the Beatles are popular everywhere, especially in North America.

PHOTO: The Beatles began in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, which remains a major station on the city’s Beatles circuit.

“But let me be clear, in the U.K., after London and Edinburgh, we have the strongest offer for tourists. Exploring the Beatles legacy alone will take a couple of days for a visitor and then there’s a lot more to discover, and we are also a strong headquarters for exploring a wonderful region.”

“In the past when we sold Liverpool, it was just hotel nights, but this past year people have been adding on the extras like the Beatles Experience, the Mersey Ferry cruise and the Magical Mystery Tour,” said Avanti’s Product Manager for Northern Europe, Gabrielle Anderson. “It’s a place that visitors are looking at now much more closely.”

A Cultural Capital Hit

While Liverpool’s tourism potential may seem obvious now, that is a relatively new state of affairs. Liverpool tourism took off in 2008, when it became the European Capital of Culture. In the lead-up to its turn as European Capital, the city invested more than $80 million in the arts; $46 million in building renovations and another $21 million in marketing, for a total budget of $166 million. It reaped an estimated $1.3 billion in economic benefits from its turn as European Capital, almost all of it coming from tourism.

The Beatles as a full-fledged tourism driver really began about seven or eight years ago.” Happily for Liverpool, Beatlemania may not be as maniacal as it was when the Fab Four were chased through the streets of the city by mobs of adoring teenagers, but it maintains a remarkable staying power. “We’ve now seen three generations of devoted Beatles fans,” said Frazer.

The Beatles circuit in Liverpool includes the Beatles Story at Albert Dock, two houses that made Britain’s National Trust list because they were the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and more. The entire circuit is covered by a journey on The Magical Mystery Tour bus or by the Beatles Fab Four Taxi Tours.

In 2007, the city opened a world-class cruise port and terminal that essentially made it equally accessible by cruise ship, airplane, train and car. Now with the cruise terminal, Liverpool is a popular port of call as well as a terminus port on the growing circle U.K itineraries. These cruises are spreading the visits beyond London. Over the past 12 years, the sector has grown from nothing to a sector with a very high ceiling. Port cities like Liverpool as well as remote areas in northern Scotland are singled out by the cruise ships, which are essentially adding new destinations to British tourism.

“Cruise ships love Liverpool, not only because of our facilities, but also because of the city’s scale,” said Frazer. “Everything seems to be in walking distance from the port.” A new conference center should add yet another strong market to the city’s portfolio of attractions.

Frazer emphasized how Liverpool hopes to nourish and grow the city’s relationship to the U.S. “There’s nothing new in that relationship,” said Frazer, “after all, the very first overseas U.S. consulate was in Liverpool, albeit that was mostly based on the cotton trade.”

To the city’s credit, the Liverpool International Slavery Museum tells the full history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that was so central to the economies of the U.S. and England. It also gives a broader profile of slavery in history. The museum tells its story powerfully across several salons of both permanent and revolving exhibits.

The U.K. needs a better spread of visitors throughout its kingdoms and also throughout England itself, if it’s ever really to fully tap all of its destination resources. That is especially true for the U.S. market, which generally features a 60 percent repeat rate. That makes it essential to get Americans out to such beyond-London destinations as Liverpool, as well as Canterbury, Chester, Manchester, York, the Lakes District and Cornwall, to name just a few English places, not counting Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

In Liverpool’s immediate region, tourists staying in the city can easily visit Manchester, Chester and the Lakes District, play golf on any of seven courses laid out along the coast and enjoy many other activities. The city itself is just a two-hour direct train ride from London, with superb service by Virgin Trains (www.virgintrains.co.uk).