When ABBA Voyage first opened in London in May 2022 it was only scheduled to run for six months until December of the same year. Three years later, it’s not just still going – the show remains hugely popular. Soon, a Beatles version of the mind-blowing virtual gig could be coming to Liverpool, and it could be funded by a tourist tax.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region (LCR), has been campaigning for an overnight tourist tax since 2017. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he had been ‘looking at ways [Liverpool] might be able to deliver something similar but not identical to the Abba Voyage experience in London’.
Liverpool’s compulsory tourist tax for overnight visitors will officially come in in 2027, covering all of LCR and including Airbnbs. Until then visitors will pay a voluntary £2 per night City Visitor Charge, which came into effect in June 2025.
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Rotheram said every pound raised fro the levy could help fund cultural events in the city. He said he wanted to create a purpose-built Beatles stadium, similar to London’s ABBA Arena, to host a cyber concert of the iconic four-piece band.
He told the LDRS that he hoped a Beatles cyber gig could encourage tourists to make visiting Liverpool a priority over London in the UK, instead of vice versa.
Liverpool would need to save up a lot of money before being able to built the Beatles arena – London’s ABBA Voyage cost £140 million to build and produce.
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