VisitEngland preps £41m regional campaign
VisitEngland, the national tourist board, is launching new partnership activity to help promote regional destinations to a domestic audience after receiving nearly £20m in extra funding.
The three-year project is called “Growing Tourism Locally” and it is estimated that it will generate £365m in additional tourism spend. The initiative follows the success of the London Olympics and hopes to harness national pride to stimulate holidaying in the UK by Britons.
The £19.8m cash injection is coming from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) with contributions from VisitEngland and the private sector. It aims to encourage Britons to take more holidays at home and the government believes that the project will stimulate employment in the tourism sector by 9,100 jobs over the three years.
The dedicated marketing campaigns will focus on specific areas and themes. Destination campaigns will start to roll out over the next 6 months whilst themed campaigns will begin running in early 2013 to stimulate Easter and Summer holiday bookings for next year.
Themes will focus on topics such as heritage, coastal Britain, countryside and culture, including sport and literature.
Cumbria Tourism launches the programme today (21 August) with an advertising campaign called “Go Share Great Moments” and “Go Take your Breath Away” with adverts appearing in London’s key rail and underground stations.
The ads feature the countryside of the Lake District and other parts of Cumbria, highlighting the quality of local food, adventure and family activities.
Business Tourism is also to receive support from the RGF and will build on VisitEngland’s work with destinations to grow the value of international conferences, events and conventions.
James Berresford, VisitEngland’s chief executive says:”The RGF money is a huge boost for tourism in England. This project enables our public and private sector partners to work together to stimulate tourism and ultimately grow jobs throughout the country with particular emphasis on some local areas.
“Whether it’s creating jobs or boosting tourism, the RGF shows the difference that Government and the private sector can make when working together. It is projects like this which will unlock private sector investment in parts of the country that need it most and boost local economic growth.”
The total cost of the campaign will be ￡41m including ￡20m from the Regional Growth Fund, ￡9m from VisitEngland and ￡12m leveraged from the national and local tourism sector.
The activity follows the controversial “The Holidays At Home Are Great” £5m campaign that ran earlier this year and featured stars such as Rupert Grint and Julie Walters at various UK locations.
