A joint industry promotion is aiming to encourage more Australian tourists to visit the UK.
Virgin Atlantic, VisitBritain and London & Partners have teamed up to boost numbers from Australia to the capital and other parts of Britian.
The airline is offering special fares to Heathrow and onward flights to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester on subsidiary Little Red.
The ‘Flying in the face of ordinary to Britain’ campaign will appear online, on radio, in weekend travel sections of all major metropolitan newspapers in Australia, via Facebook and in travel trade media.
VisitBritain marketing director Joss Croft said: “We’ve seen spend levels grow 52% from the Australian market over the last five years, so it’s hugely important to extend our partnership with Virgin Atlantic, our key airline partner linking the UK to Australia.”
“In the last five years the price tag on a London trip from Australia has become more affordable, allowing more travellers to venture further afield to destinations within Great Britain.
“We’ve seen more than 3 million Australian visits to London over the past five years, spending around £2.2 billion in the capital.”
Virgin Atlantic celebrated a landmark year in 2012 with the Australian dollar at an all-time high against the pound.
The airline’s general manager Australia and New Zealand, Luke Fisher said: “Last year was a record year for Virgin Atlantic on the Kangaroo route. Our passenger numbers travelling through to the UK increased by more than 20,000 people and we saw a marked improvement in our market share to London.”
London & Partners Director consumer marketing and digital Channels Julie Chappell added: “The kangaroo route has brought many millions of Australian residents to London since the 1930s and last year Australia was London’s fourth biggest market for tourism expenditure, generating £470 million and the seventh biggest visitor market with 600,000 visitors coming to London from Australia.
“This new partnership with Virgin Atlantic and VisitBritain will further build on our strong ties with Australia by attracting more visitors keen to experience London’s rich cultural offering, world class events and shopping.”