VisitBritain recently concluded it’s Destination Britain APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Australia) hosted at the Grand Hyatt Bali, Indonesia. The event was attended by 20 Indian buyers and select media from the market. The aim was to connect the stakeholders in the destination and the source markets to encourage fruitful partnerships between the two.
Addressing the media at the welcome session, Christopher Rodrigues, Chairman, VisitBritain said that UK has one of the largest inbound numbers, most from the Asia Pacific region. The focus, moving forward, will be on what UK can do for its source markets in terms of what the travellers want and serve them accordingly, as opposed to what the destination has to offer.
“In 2014, UK notched record numbers in terms of visitor numbers and spend, welcoming 34.8 million visitors, a 6 per cent increase over the previous year, and revenue of GBP 21.7 billion, an increase of 3 per cent. The Nation Brand Index named UK the third best destination overall for tourism, fourth for sports, 20th for natural beauty, and fifth for visits if money was no object. These are encouraging facts and figures,” he stated.
He further revealed that the 2015 forecast is to increase international footfall by 2.5 per cent and visitor spend by 4.5 per cent. “US tourism is on the rise as the $ strengthens and European numbers have lowered as the EUR weakens, making APMEA more important a market than ever. The region makes up for 11 per cent of our visitors, 24 per cent of our visitor spend and has risen 132 per cent in the last decade. Strong currencies and growing middle classes have fuelled footfall, and we now need to put UK on people’s bucket lists,” Rodrigues said.
The roadmap for VisitBritain now is to get travellers to visit London, and encourage them to then travel on to other parts. The first step is to sell the value story – break the perception that London is an expensive destination and highlight that there are accommodations that range from budget and bed and breakfasts to luxury rooms. The next step is to extend the GREAT campaign – the campaign has seen tremendous response, leveraging what Britain is popular for: culture, countryside, gastronomy and so on.
For APMEA in particular Rodrigues listed a few additional steps for the future. One is to expand partnerships as some of the budgets for markets have been halved. “It’s already only GBP 21 million for 26 markets which is a small amount as it is. However, research shows that the ROI on every GBP 1, is GBP 19, which is encouraging,” he stated.
The solution is for VisitBritain to partner with airlines for increased activity. Second is a focus on hub carriers as British Airways is not strong in every market. The third step would be to nurture key secondary markets as budget cuts mean fewer people across the world. This has led to VisitBritain starting a programme for smaller markets such as Australia, Singapore, Indonesia etc.
Last but in no way least is trade engagement. VisitBritain is investing more in this facet and launched a BritAgent training package on the back of Destination Britain. Furthermore, increased interaction, engagement and rewards for the trade are on the cards. An events calendar and an itinerary building tool is also in the works. The challenge, Rodrigues stated, is to train young agents to cater to well heeled travellers and sell Britain appropriately.
New campaigns
The highlight for the year, however, remains VisitBritain’s new consumer campaign set to be launched in autumn this year: Culture is GREAT. The campaign will highlight UK’s USPs in terms of culture offerings for travellers, including contemporary culture and city life, as well as film & television and performing arts. VisitBritain is the official partner for the 23rd Bond movie to be released this year.
Speaking at the welcome briefing on the first day of Destination Britain, Jaco Coetzee, Head of Trade and Commercial, VisitBritain Buyers and Media revealed that the VisitBritain campaigns will generate GBP 100 million over time. The Countryside is GREAT campaign that is currently running is poised to earn over GBP 70 million. The B2B activity at Destination Britain, he added, is worth GBP 233 million, 40 per cent of VisitBritain’s total 2013 output.
Furthermore, each region in Britain will have a theme in 2016. Scotland will celebrate Year of Food and Drink; Wales will host Year of Adventure; England will see Year of the English Garden and so on.
B2B initiatives
VisitBritain has been continuously building on its trade website which was launched in 2013, and has been encouraging the trade to add their details on it to create an international database and connect with their British counterparts. A new addition to the site is the VB Shop which allows agents to buy new products from the retail site.
The destination’s specialist programme BritAgent has already seen 6,500 graduates, and the module has been made more user friendly for future applicants. It has now been edited to ask test questions first and start training levels as per the agents’ prior knowledge as opposed to everyone starting at the base level. The BritAgent will soon be available in nine languages and will see the addition of the Countryside is GREAT campaign’s highlights.
Destination Britain APMEA 2015 saw the participation of 20 Indian buyers, reflecting the strong interest the market has in the destination. VisitBritain also hosted its first Explore GB event this year which saw 260 UK suppliers and 250 international buyers. The second edition is slated for 3-4 March 2016 and is targeting 300 suppliers and buyers.
