Rock and pop UK tourism push unveiled

England Rocks! – a six-month campaign to capitalise on increasing interest in live music – is launched by EnjoyEngland today (Monday).

The promotion aims to further increase the number of Britons who holiday at home because of their love of rock and pop music. An estimated 23 million (38%) people already take in a concert or festival while on a domestic holiday.

The idea is to encourage domestic visitors to visit the locations and destinations linked to iconic English musicians, from The Animals to The Zutons and everyone in-between.

England Rocks! features a map of 130 music locations and destinations spanning all English regions. 

Consumers can visit a new website – www.enjoyengland.com/rocks – to order the map, pinpointing the birthplaces and favourite hangouts of rock stars, locations that inspired their music and featured on album covers, venues and a variety of festivals taking place all over the country.

Selected locations will appear on a map, which can be zoomed in on to provide travel directions via GoogleMap technology. 

There are 200 locations on the site which can be searched by band or artist, geographical location or theme using an interactive 50’s style jukebox selector. 

Users can also play a ‘Pop Tramps’ game, receive exclusive downloads for their PC and check out festival dates for 2007.

England Rocks! is designed to capitalise on what is shaping up to be one of the best years for music in the country, making 2007 the year of music tourism, according to EnjoyEngland. As well as being the 50th anniversary of the Cavern Club, 2007 also sees the return of the Glastonbury festival and the first time the BRIT awards have been broadcast live for a number of years.

Laurence Bresh, Enjoy England’s general manager for England marketing at VisitBritain said: “England’s rock and pop music has been renowned worldwide for the last half a century. 

“It also holds a unique fascination for domestic visitors – not only visiting the famous haunts where rock stars used to hang out, but also music venues and ever more popular festivals.

“One in five Britons claim event (musical, festivals and sport) holidays as their preferred type of holiday. England Rocks! will encourage more of them to discover all that England offers.”

Enjoy England is working with Liverpool for the campaign in the run-up to European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008 and in association with Virgin Trains, Superbreak, VisitLondon and Isle of Wight Tourism.

by Phil Davies