2013-02-25 — /travelprnews.com/ — VisitEngland, the national tourist board, today launched a new multi-channel marketing campaign designed to boost domestic tourism in 2013 by promoting short breaks in some of England’s most beautiful rural locations. The campaign is the fourth of six launching from January to March, covering the four key themes of countryside, coast, heritage and culture, funded in part by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
The campaign focuses on how much England’s green and pleasant land has to offer to those looking to spend quality time with family and friends – from picturesque villages and inspiring landscapes, to historic market towns and cosy country pubs.
The destinations partnering with VisitEngland in this campaign are:
• Bronte Country
• Cheshire
• Cumbria
• Dorset
• Essex
• Hadrian’s Wall
• Hampshire
• Lancashire
• Liverpool – surrounding rural areas
• New Forest
• North Somerset
• Nottinghamshire
• Oxfordshire
• Oxfordshire Cotswolds
• Peak District & Derbyshire
• Staffordshire
• Suffolk
• Warwickshire
• West Norfolk
• Wiltshire
• Yorkshire Wolds
The campaign incorporates a range of national online, broadcast and print elements in partnership with network radio stations Classic FM and Gold FM, as well as The Guardian, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. There is also a substantial programme of digital and social media activity, including Facebook competitions, video content, and a dedicated section on visitengland.com: www.visitengland.com/morecountryside.
James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, commented:
“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. This is a great example of the industry working in partnership to stimulate tourism and grow jobs throughout the country.”
This new marketing activity is part of VisitEngland’s three-year investment project called ‘Growing Tourism Locally’. Funded by £19.8million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, the project aims to generate £420million in additional tourism spend over the 2012-15 period and inspire more UK residents to take more holidays and short breaks at home. The project aims to stimulate local employment to create jobs in the tourism sector by 9,100 over a three-year period to March 2015.
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For more information contact:
Sarah Long, Head of Corporate Communications Tel: 020 7578 1452, Mob: 07500555651, Email: sarah.long@visitengland.org Website: www.visitengland.org
Notes to Editors:
The total investment of the three-year ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ campaign will be approximately £41.9m including £19.8m from the Regional Growth Fund, £9.1m from VisitEngland, £12.7m leveraged from both national and local tourism partners over the 2012-15 period.
The destination organisations participating in the Rural Escapes campaign are:
• Cumbria Tourism
• Destination Staffordshire
• West Dorset District Council
• Experience Nottinghamshire
• Hadrian’s Wall Trust
• Hampshire County Council
• Liverpool City Region LEP
• Marketing Cheshire
• Marketing Lancashire
• New Forest Tourism Partnership
• North Somerset Council
• Shakespeare’s England (Warwickshire)
• Visit Bradford (Bronte Country)
• Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY)
• Visit Oxfordshire
• Visit Peak District & Derbyshire
• Visit Suffolk
• VisitWiltshire
• VisitEssex
• Visit West Norfolk
• Oxfordshire Cotswolds
Key campaign media activity includes:
• From 25th February for 2 weeks – Competitions and online activity with Classic FM to win one of two weekend rural escapes in England
• 2nd March and 16th March: 8-page ‘Hidden England’ supplements in The Guardian
• 4th March and 13th March – G2 cover wraps in The Guardian
• 3rd March – 16-page supplement in Mail on Sunday
About VisitEngland
• VisitEngland is the country’s national tourist board. We work in partnership with the industry to develop the visitor experience across England, plan national tourism strategy, grow the value of tourism in England and provide advocacy for the industry and our visitors
• Our work is underpinned by robust research and customer insights. You can access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics on www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics
• For corporate information see www.visitengland.org and for consumer information see www.visitengland.com
About the Regional Growth Fund
• The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) is a £2.6 billion fund operating across England from 2011 to 2016. It supports projects and programmes that lever private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment. The first 3 rounds allocated £2.4 billion which will leverage over £13 billion of private sector investment and create or safeguard over 500,000 jobs. Round 4 is now open for applications and will allocate a further £350m.
• The RGF is a flexible and competitive fund, with bidders able to submit bids either as a project or a programme. It has a minimum bid threshold of £1 million.
• For more information, visit: /bounce.aspx?PG=https://www.gov.uk/understanding-the-regional-growth-fund#what-is-the-regional-growth-fund