VisitBritain will still achieve its aims despite suffering a 34% cut in funding in the government’s spending review last week, said chairman Christopher Rodrigues.
He said the organisation would use its resources cleverly to ensure the UK becomes one of the top three places in the world to visit.
The Olympics are a priority for the former Thomas Cook chief executive due to the audience of 4.5 billion who are expected to tune in.
He explained: “We need to tell Britain’s story to these viewers; for example, NBC will be filming from a different part of the country every day during the games – when else could we get that sort of exposure?”
Rodrigues stressed the importance of appealing to different markets with different messages, differentiating between repeat and new customers.
He said: “The message to Europeans, who make up 70% of repeat guests, is the different elements of the UK. In emerging markets like India it’s still about London, pillar boxes and Sherlock Holmes.”
- More from the Travel Convention at travelweekly.co.uk/tc2010