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ABTA 2012: VisitEngland confirms 2 million pound travel trade campaign
VisitEngland today confirmed it is planning a £2m TV advertising campaign next spring to encourage more people to book domestic breaks through travel agents.
Announcing the move at the ABTA Travel Convention, VisitEngland chairman Lady Cobham said the body was keen to work more closely with the trade and to help those "working at the coalface".
A campaign launched with lastminute.com immediately after the Olympic Games was so successful, she said, that it had made her determined to work more closely with the travel industry. The tourism body was promised £2m extra funding by the former secretary of state for tourism Jeremy Hunt.
Lastminute.com said its domestic bookings following the campaign were up 25% year on year.
Urging the travel trade to get behind domestic breaks, Lady Cobham said there had been an 18% increase in UK holiday sales since 2009. "Although this is not a smooth curve we are totally confident, as are the partners that we are working with that this will be maintained."
The £2m campaign will be a joint venture with UK tour operators and will require trade partners to provide marketing support through in-store promotions, database and website marketing, and participation in a new training programme run in association with TravelUni, also being launched today.
VisitEngland will also launch a tool kit for the trade, including a dedicated newsletter, website and a programme of familiarisation trips throughout England over the next 12 months.
Lady Cobham added: "Tourism in England is worth £97billion a year and supports over 2million jobs in this country. Our mission is to grow this wonderful industry by 5% year on year, but we can’t do it alone. We are asking you the travel trade to, get on board with VisitEngland and back this campaign"
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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