Following the European Capital of Culture year in 2008 there was a feeling within Liverpool that the city had failed to capitalise on what was a terrific twelve months and lost the momentum that had been generated.

Through 2009 and 2010 it wasn’t that nothing was happening, but it all seemed a little half hearted and second rate in comparison to what had gone before.

However, during the past twenty four months nobody could accuse Liverpool of lacking the courage to back its convictions of putting the city back on the map nationally and internationally – and genuinely embracing its new found status as a visitor destination.

The Shanghai Expo success was quickly followed by the decision to open a Liverpool Embassy in London. This initiative has delivered for the city and for the city’s businesses. The next big ticket item came in March this year, when the Global Entrepreneurship Congress came to Liverpool, along with headline act Sir Richard Branson.

All of these projects have cost Liverpool City Council money at a time when cash is tight. But Joe Anderson and his team took the calculated risk of investing in these premier ideas – and they have all paid off.

However, the £1.5m investment that brought Sea Odyssey to Liverpool last week, attracting over 400,000 people to the city and boosting the local economy by over £20m is perhaps the most spectacular success since 2008 yet.

Hotels were fully booked, you could not get in any city centre restaurant without a half hour wait, coffee shops were packed to the rafters – and toy shops reported better sales last weekend than they enjoyed at Christmas. It was a truly remarkable three day event that will live long in the memory of all who witnessed it.

There was also the additional benefit of Liverpool featuring very positively on national news and arts programmes, and thousands of column inches being written about the city right across the globe.

As I have said Sea Odyssey was only the latest in an impressive series of profile raising initiatives that brand Liverpool has delivered. But somehow Sea Odyssey felt different. Such was the scale of the event, the universal celebration of what was an amazing show, and the unprecedented rave reviews that it received afterwards, that it feels like a game changer to me. ‘Liverpool is the place to be’ was a phrase repeated time and again in the press, on the TV and on the streets of the city.

Liverpool is now a genuine destination city. Tourism is part of our offer. We are finally starting to take advantage again of the city’s greatest asset – the Mersey. And, as Liverpool Vision gets ready to unleash ‘Marketing Liverpool’ and another wave of what will be equally impressive occasions, Liverpool will continue its modernisation and renaissance in some style.

Liverpool was granted the privilege of hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in 2012 earlier this week, a clear sign that the international community is beginning to recognise that the city has rediscovered its flair for enterprise and wealth creation. On the back of the fabulous news about the development of a £30 million exhibition centre at the ACC Arena, which I featured last week, two more significant regeneration schemes have been unveiled in the last few days.

Northern Ireland based developer and Downtown member Benmore announced ambitions to deliver a major leisure scheme in South Liverpool on a 15 acre site. Hotels, a multi screen cinema, gym and restaurants will be included  in the Speke scheme. The developer will begin work on the £30 million first phase as soon as consent is given by the council and could start trading by the end of next year.

The development was designed by another Downtown member company, Liverpool architects Falconer Chester Hall. Meanwhile, Downtown sponsors Iliad have had a proposal for a 262-bedroom student accommodation scheme in the award winning East Village approved. The regeneration momentum continues, despite the challenging climate in which the property market currently finds itself, and perhaps the city council’s pro active response to potential investment and development projects is starting to pay dividends.

Certainly, the coup of winning the prize of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, which will bring over 400 international delegates into the city in March, is of great credit to Liverpool Vision, who worked tirelessly to secure this prestigious event. Congratulations to Max Steinberg, Mike Taylor and their team for a terrific success.