In the aftermath of Olympic success, Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt MP has announced initiatives on both the domestic and international tourism front designed to ensure that the Olympics should be for Britain what Usain Bolt is for athletics – something that grabs the attention of the whole world and refuses to let it go. In his words:
“We must use this extraordinary year to turbo-charge our tourism industry. To create jobs and prosperity on the back of a globally-enhanced reputation. And to show that when we talk about Olympic legacy, tourism is an opportunity we seized and ran with all the way to the finishing line.”
These initiatives should deliver results for both leisure and hospitality: H&C News recommends that readers keep a close eye on what’s happening, and how to benefit.
Domestic tourism
On the domestic front, the domestic tourism advertising campaign – Holiday at Home – seen earlier in 2012 will see a further £2 million in a follow up campaign next year, to be increased further with match-funding.
The Olympic Torch Relay has also successfully ignited domestic interest in UK holidays, but it is still too difficult to book domestic holiday packages on the web. Visit England will therefore double the number of domestic package breaks being booked in the years ahead by bringing together website retailers, car rental groups, train companies, airlines and hotel groups.
Cultural tourism
The London 2012 Festival has already been enjoyed by around 10 million people across the country, with more opportunities still to come – perhaps the biggest and best Cultural Olympiad ever.
How to build on this? One promising idea is to have a London Biennale – a bi-annual London or UK-wide arts festival to celebrate the best of what the Uk has to offer culturally: a report will be prepared on the feasibility of such a festival, how much it would cost and how it should be delivered.
2013 – A Focus on China
Their is now tremendous momentum behind marketing the UK internationally, and it will be supported by the continuation of the GREAT campaign in 2013 with an £8 million focus on one of the world’s fastest growing economies: China.
Only around 150,000 Chinese tourists visited the UK last year, a figure that is well down on that of major competitors such as Germany and France. The numbers are rising, but not fast enough.
China and its cities represents a massive opportunity:
- By 2025, Shanghai is expected to be the third richest city in the world
- Five other Chinese cities – Shenzhen, Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Chengdu – are expected to be among the top 20 globally for GDP growth
- And by 2030, China should have around 1.4 billion middle class consumers – creating a potential market four times bigger than America.
This new campaign aims to treble the number of Chinese visitors to the UK, reaching 500,000 by 2015, generating more than £0.5 billion additional visitor spend a year and creating 14,000 more jobs.
Improvements to both the visa system and the number of flight connections to China are being investigated.
VisitEngland’s reaction
James Berresford VisitEngland’s Chief Executive commented:
“The fantastic events of 2012 have provided tourism with an unprecedented opportunity to raise the profile of England as a destination and build on the swell of national pride that the Diamond Jubilee, The Torch Relay, London Festival 2012 and The Games have ignited in us as a population. This, I am confident, combined with our continued marketing efforts will help to inspire more Britons to take a break in this country.
“We will continue to work closely with our destination partners to amplify the Holidays at Home are GREAT campaign at a local level to continue to grow the visitor economy. We know the trend to take a break at home is strong. Overnight domestic Holiday trips were up by 6% last year and I am confident with this additional support from Government we can ensure that an overriding legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be through tourism.”
For Jeremy Hunt’s full speech click here