Blackpool will be "the most exciting resort in Europe" after a multimillion-pound revamp, according to a minister.
Blackpool Council has bought several of the town's major tourist attractions, including Blackpool Tower, meaning they will be under public ownership for the first time.
The country's second Madame Tussauds will be opened in the resort, as part of the £38.9 million venture.
A dungeon to rival the one in London is also set to be built, Phil Woolas, regional minister for the North West, announced.
"It is going to create the most exciting resort, in my view, in Europe.
"There really is an economic revolution in Blackpool.
"This is the most popular tourist destination in the UK anyway but we are going to double the number of visitors," he said.
Merlin Entertainments was appointed to manage the attractions after the deal to buy them from previous owners Leisure Parcs was sealed.
The leisure operator, which runs the London Eye, Alton Towers and Legoland among others, already runs a Sea Life centre in the town.
The Tower, which opened in May 1894, will be restored with £10 million of the funding and the current observation platform will be replaced with a 4D cinema show.
A new conference centre will be built near the entertainment complex the Winter Gardens, which hosted the Royal Variety Performance last year.
The first phase has been pencilled in for completion by next summer and the council hopes it will double the number of visitors to the resort to around 800,000 a year.
More than 1,000 jobs will be created by the venture, the council estimates.
Merlin Entertainments' chief executive officer Nick Varney said: "No other UK European centre other than London will be able to offer such a broad selection of international attraction brands.
"This will help take what is already one of the best loved, and in our view most iconic, seaside destinations in Europe into the premier league as an exceptional new family holiday destination."
The investment comes from the Northwest European Regional Development Fund, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Blackpool Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.