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More than 100 of Britain’s leading visitor attractions will have Chinese names following a 10-week social media campaign by Visit Britain in China.
The Shard in London could soon be named the ‘London Cone’ for Chinese visitors. Savile Row in London is set to become ‘Tall, rich handsome street’.
Hadrian’s Wall will be renamed the ‘Wall of eternity’, and the Cerne Abbas Giant will be ‘Big white streaker’.
The Chinese names follow a VisitBritain campaign on China’s Weibo and WeChat social media platforms which attracted 13,000 suggestions for names of 101 places of interest to visitors to Britain.
The ‘GREAT names for GREAT Britain’ campaign was developed after VisitBritain noted the strong trend in China to give literal names to celebrities, places and foods.
It forms part of a £1.6 million marketing push in China, the biggest-ever campaign in the country by VisitBritain, which aims to double the value of the Chinese market to the UK by 2020.
Chinese visitors currently spend £500 million a year visiting Britain.
VisitBritain chief executive Sally Balcombe said: “Chinese visitors already stay longer in Britain than in European competitor destinations and are our higher spenders.
“We want to ensure we continue to compete effectively in the world’s biggest outbound market and ensure we deliver growth and jobs across Britain.”
She added: “Digital engagement is one of our strengths and this campaign has been hugely effective at driving this with potential Chinese visitors.
“We’re working closely with the industry and hope to see some of Britain’s most popular points of interest use these new Chinese names on social media channels and websites.”
VisitBritain will be issuing suggestions to attractions on how to use the new ‘GREAT Chinese Names’ as part of the GREAT Britain campaign.
Official figures released last week confirmed 2014 was a record year for inbound visits to Britain – with visitor numbers up by 6% year-on-year to 34.8 million and spending up by 3% to £21.7 billion.