VisitEngland will repeat its Holidays at Home are Great campaign with Wallace and Gromit this spring after seeing a pick-up in domestic bookings through the trade after last year’s campaign.
The £4 million campaign directed consumers to book with agents and won backing from the trade, with companies matching VisitEngland funds and encouraging agents to sell domestic trips.
VisitEngland trade marketing partnerships manager Claire Burdall said: “A number of partners reported double-digit sales growth for the campaign period.”
She said follow-up research suggests “attitudes towards booking UK holidays with travel agents became more positive over the campaign period”. VisitEngland research found 47% of families felt the adverts made them “more likely to book a UK break with a travel agent”.
Burdall said: “It certainly raised the profile of booking a domestic break through an agent. The fact we are doing the campaign again this year highlights how incredibly important the trade is.
“It worked so well last year [that] it will be a similar campaign this year, using Wallace and Gromit. The characters are fun and it’s an ingenious way of selling a destination. It broke the clichés of rolling hills.”
She pointed out: “It’s a pan-UK campaign, but we’re leading it.”
The same operators have signed up to take part, including Bourne Leisure; Superbreak, Hoseasons and Shearings. VisitEngland is also looking for more operators to work with.
Shearings head of marketing Chris Barker said: “It was a great campaign that caught the imagination of the trade and consumers. It helped last year after a difficult first quarter.”
Steve Allerston, managing director of Holiday Travel in Bridlington, said: “Wallace and Gromit are a fun image. We are sending our postcards to clients and hopefully people will look at it because it’s eye-catching.”
TV ads will start on April 1 but will run in cinemas and online a little earlier.VisitEngland won Best Tourist Board at the Globe Travel Awards in January.