Eight marketing campaigns to boost domestic tourism in 2013 have been unveiled by VisitEngland at WTM.
They will cover the four themes of countryside, heritage, culture and coastal, and will run from January in partnership with destinations from all over England as well as national commercial organisations.
Funded by £2 million from the government’s Regional Growth Fund plus contributions from partners, the promotions are described as providing a cost effective opportunity for destinations to inspire more domestic visitors next year.
The campaigns will run on radio, in newspaper supplements, and via social media and PR:
· Countryside campaigns will include ‘Rural Escapes’ and ‘Great Outdoors’
· Heritage campaigns will include ‘Romantic City Breaks’ and ‘Hair-raising Histories’
· Coastal campaigns will include ‘Great English Seaside’ and ‘Coastal Escape’
· Culture campaign will be called ‘Cultural Cities’
Each theme will have a ‘Festivals and Music’ strand
The themes are based on research which found there was still a great lack of knowledge of the type of holidays on offer and a thirst for local inspiration.
Business minister Michael Fallon said: “I’m pleased to see that the Regional Growth Fund is supporting VisitEngland and its partners to boost tourism and create over 9,000 jobs over three years in our cultural and heritage-rich communities up and down the country.
“The world saw that we could put on a good show from hosting the Olympics and it is important that we capitalise on this in rebalancing the economy and building an aspiration nation.”
Sport and tourism minister Hugh Robertson, said: “Tourism is a vibrant, important industry that contributes significantly to economic growth.
“This investment from the Regional Growth Fund will encourage such partnerships at a local level, bringing in additional tourist spend, helping to create jobs and building on the success of London 2012.”
VisitEngland’s chief executive James Berresford said: “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.
“It’s not too late for destinations throughout England to get on board with whichever campaign best fits their tourism offering, providing a real boost at a local level.”
This marketing activity is phase two of a three-year investment project called ‘Growing Tourism Locally’.
Funded by £19.8 million from the RGF, the project aims to generate £365 million in additional tourism spend over the period and inspire more Britons to take holidays at home.
The project should help to stimulate employment to grow jobs in the tourism sector by 9,100 over the three years.
The total investment of the three-year campaign will be approximately £41 million, including £19.8 million from the Regional Growth Fund, £9 million from VisitEngland, £12 million from the national and local tourism sector.