Blackpool Illuminations will remain switched on for two extra months to boost tourism which has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The resort’s annual switch-on celebration in September will be staged away from the public for the first time in more than 70 years, and be replaced by a televised closed event filmed inside the Tower Ballroom.
The world-famous spectacle would normally end in November, but it will now continue into January 2021.
Gillian Campbell, cabinet member for tourism and culture at Blackpool Council, said: “The annual switch-on event is the biggest night in Blackpool’s events calendar.
"Sadly, it is simply not possible to stage an event of that scale given the current restrictions around social distancing and mass gatherings.
“We are very much aware of how much our tourism businesses are suffering as a result of the pandemic and we hope that, by extending the Blackpool Illuminations season by two months, it will give them an opportunity to bring in some additional trade.”
The extended Illuminations season will run from September 4 to January 3, 2021.
The decision coincides with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stating hospitality and tourism is “fraught with all sorts of particular risks” related to social distancing.
When asked why shops are open but tourism is still limited, he said: “There is a higher level of risk of transmission, that’s the advice we have had from the experts, so we do need to wait a little bit longer to make sure we can do that responsibly.”
He told BBC Breakfast on Thursday: “We are itching to open up those sectors from a business point of view and also a consumer point of view but we have just got to do it in a responsible way.”
