VisitBritain

Our research shows films and TV are powerful motivators for travel. More than 9 out of 10 potential visitors are interested in visiting film and TV locations used in filming or seen-on-screen during their holidays here in the UK. Throughout 2024, we have been engaging with travel trade, media and influencers showcasing our screen tourism offer, increasing the bank of ‘bookable’ screen tourism products and getting these on itineraries of international travel trade to sell to their customers, to build momentum for the launch of our Starring GREAT Britain campaign in early 2025. Next year, we will continue our programme of travel trade, media and influencer activity, starting with Showcase Britain in January.

Season’s Greetings from all of us at VisitBritain.☃️

Our Business Events Growth Programme resulted in a boost to the economy of £45.5 million over 2018-23, with 62 business events supported in 18 cities across the nations and regions. We project continued expansion for the programme in the financial years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, elevating a further 63 potential or confirmed events across 12 British cities.  Since 2022, applicants to the Business Events Growth Programme have been asked to include evidence of sustainability policies in their event planning and examples of wider positive impact objectives beyond direct economic return. Impact initiatives reported in successful applications have included community engagement programmes, new research and development projects, regional and national cultural promotion, reduction in waste policies and investment in British startups driving inward investment.  Our Business Events work also resulted in accolades including joint Gold for Best Positive Impact/Event Legacy at the M&IT Awards for our “Shape the Future of Events” series. 

Thank you Adrián Garzón & Jose Contreras it was an absolute pleasure, as always. Hope the VisitBritain Educational FAM trip has helped to showcase the novelties, the good connectivity and what’s there to offer in London+ Visit Kent to Ávoris and brands who attended. The value of achievement lies in the achieving. As you know, Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much; and This project was a proper team work that made it happen, where we joint our efforts to deliver best Educational FAM trip ever. Special thanks to everyone involved allowing this project took place with a very short notice to make it happen: Joan Cano Calvet & Iberia , Alanna Kite , Claire Ford , Robin Tjolle , Deirdre Wells OBE , Cristina Bernabé. And of course, All the suppliers that helped and supported this Trip: Historic Royal Palaces City Cruises UK Merlin Entertainments Trade The lastminute.com London Eye Meliá Hotels International Maria Dominguez Nicolás Fernández Correa Hard Rock Cafe Cascade Brown Frameless Daniel Machado-Gibbs made tourism Vince Mutty Lightroom Clermont Hotel Group Louisa Fortune-Terrell Maria Morote TodayTix Group (TTG) Bobby Szente Wicked Direct Leeds Castle English Heritage Dover Castle Canterbury Cathedral Hampton Inn by Hilton Canterbury The Tudor Peacock wine tasting The Woolpack Inn Chilham Chalkwell Coach Hire Canterbury brewers & Destilers Café du Soleil Canterbury @visit britain shop Transport for London Many more to come …. when & where next … 2025 is around the corner …. And it is coming with full of new ideas…. Let’s keep working together to promote the wonders of our #GREAT destination. Javier Omenaca ***Get in touch if you want to know more

Throughout 2024 we engaged with public diplomacy partners globally to build relationships and to harness the important role tourism plays in soft power. Tourism builds cultural connections and positions Britain globally as a welcoming, vibrant, culturally diverse destination that people want to visit. We know that those who have visited are 18% more likely to go on and invest in British businesses, products and services.      We led a tourism delegation to Saudi Arabia to put Britain’s tourism offer in the spotlight for the GREAT FUTURES trade expo in Riyadh. Our presence at the GREAT event for Toronto International Film Festival allowed us to highlight the role of film and TV in tourism as we build up to the launch of our Starring GREAT Britain campaign in January 2025.       In 2025, we are taking part in Osaka Expo 2025 in Japan to promote travel to Britain, build people-to-people connections, showcase our welcome and tell our story about all the great reasons to book a trip. It will be just one of the ways we continue building on this work and drive tourism growth to the nations and regions of Britain.  

This year, we have tripled our assets available for trade use and our Asset Library now has over 5000 images and videos available when promoting Britain. These assets are available for tourism industry professionals looking for high-quality images to sell British destinations, encouraging visitors to travel across our nations and regions. In 2025, we will be expanding on our collection of film and TV assets to support our upcoming Starring GREAT Britain campaign.

📽️ And timely too as we gear up to roll out our global ‘Starring GREAT Britain' campaign in January - using the powerful draw of #films & #tv to boost inbound tourism visits and spend across our nations and regions, driving economic growth. And watch this space for our blockbuster inspired launch 🎬 that sees #Britain the star of the show. Our screen #tourism research shows that more than 9-out-10 potential visitors to the #UK are keen to visit places used in filming and seen-on-screen during their trip. Our full research report is on our website here: https://lnkd.in/d5nGGcCn And read more about the campaign and how you can get involved in #StarringGREATBritain on our website: https://lnkd.in/eVJDzfar Nick de Bois CBE Patricia Yates GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign Department for Culture, Media and Sport Tom Marlow Tracey Edginton Gavin Landry Emma Wilkinson West Midlands Growth Company Becky Frall Digbeth Loc. Studios

In January 2024, ‘Showcase Britain’ saw us welcome more than 120 international travel buyers for a series of educational visits across Britain. Buyers and media experienced the latest tourism products from the nations and regions of Britain, giving them the first-hand knowledge to sell Britain. Our in-country teams worked with partners across England, Scotland and Wales to develop tailored trips for each inbound market, broadening travel itineraries for inbound markets and driving regional growth. Showcase Britain returns in January 2025.

Engaging with international travel trade to equip them with the knowledge to sell Britain is one of the ways we are driving inbound sales. In 2024, we delivered trade missions and  workshops in key markets including India, Australia, Germany & Brazil, welcoming British suppliers and international buyers to meet and do business. By bringing our very important and highly valuable markets together with UK suppliers to do business, we have been shining the spotlight on the fantastic products and experiences on offer across our nations and regions and making sure those are sold in international markets.   Building product and destination knowledge also broadens travel itineraries so visitors explore more, including through our regional gateways, spreading the benefits of visitor spending across our nations and regions.    We will be sharing our 2025/26 calendar in the new year; sign up for our newsletter to get this news to your inbox. We look forward to working with you in the new year!

Two-thirds of visitors from the #USA come from California or the New York tri-state area. Chinese visitors tend to be younger than the average visitor to the UK, and more than half of visits from France come via plane, with 34% choosing transport through the Channel Tunnel and 14% via sea in 2023.    This year, we have held market webinars on some of the UK’s largest and most valuable #inbound markets, including USA, #France and #China. These #webinars support the industry by sharing key insights and data from our #research team and in-market experts, allowing UK #tourism suppliers to approach specific markets with confidence, growing inbound visits and the UK tourism economy.    Watch back recordings of our 2024 market webinars to find out how to approach buyers and reach audiences in these markets. For more insights and sessions in 2025 sign up to our newsletter and be kept up to date.   https://lnkd.in/e7nP2BYy