VisitEngland, the tourist board that is responsible for promoting tourism in England, has entered the next phase of its current marketing campaign.
The multi-channel campaign, which is intended to boost domestic tourism during the coming year by promoting short breaks, is now concentrating on England’s rural attractions. It is part of VisitEngland’s three-year, ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ project, and follows the previous segment of the campaign, which had the country’s beaches and coastline as its theme.
There will be six interlinked promotions during the campaign, which has been running since January and will come to an end in March. The key themes that are spread across the six segments are countryside, coast, heritage and culture. The message promoted during this ‘rural’ phase will be of England’s wealth of rural diversity. It will showcase the country’s chocolate box villages, historic country towns and the rolling hills and valleys that surround them.
Partnerships with newspapers The Guardian, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday will form part of the campaign, along with promotions on network radio stations, digital and social media formats including Facebook competitions, video promotions, and promotion on the organisation’s website.
Funding for the ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ promotion, which is costing GBP19.8 million in total, is coming partly from the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund. In return, it is expected that GBP420 million will be generated in additional domestic tourism between 2012 and 2015, due to a greater number of UK residents taking the lead in booking holidays and short breaks in England. It is also hoped that an additional 9,100 jobs will be created in the local tourism industry by March 2015, as a knock-on effect of the boost to the industry.
VisitEngland chief executive, James Berresford, said, ‘This exciting campaign is one of several launching this year with the aim of growing tourism in England. The campaign aims to inspire UK residents explore our green and pleasant land, and take a short break in one of England’s most beautiful rural destinations.’
