VisitBritain kicked-off its flagship international travel trade show, Destination Britain 2013, in Bangkok today. Celebrating its 10th year, the tourism gathering will open with a record 35% of recent suppliers, showcasing their strongest UK travel and tourism offerings.
The event offers British tourism businesses an important path to market and a distinct opportunity to further boost the 4.2 million visits and record £5.3 billion spent in Britain by visitors from this portion of the area. APMEA is a key region for Britain with regards to value, accounting for 28% of total tourism spend, an amount that has grown considerably during the last few years (35% growth since 2008).
Destination Britain APMEA is VisitBritain’s largest overseas trade exhibition, with over 200 companies and travel industry specialists attending over three days. This year is about to interrupt attendance records, with 60 UK companies comprising attractions, hotels, tour operators, regional, and national tourist boards and transport providers participating.
In the 2012 Olympic year, Britain welcomed 31 million visitors from the world over, spending £18.6 billion. VisitBritain has recently outlined a growth strategy that aims to enhance inbound tourism to 40 million visits and £31.5 billion in spend by 2020 (3% year-on-year growth).
A key portion of the 2020 growth strategy involves plans to expand the GCC region(1). These markets have become increasingly important, accounting for £1.2b spend in 2012, representing 22% of the APMEA total. The organisation will now increase its reach across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait City and Qatar. This larger network at the side of partner activity will enable VisitBritain to have interaction with high spending Arab families and the increasingly important youth market.
To support their efforts, and after successful partnerships with British Airways internationally, VisitBritain and Emirates airline have agreed a £2 million, two-year partnership to advertise Britain overseas. The deal will include a mix of selling in kind and cash payments. Emirates cover an infinite network of routes and destinations across South East Asia, Australia, India and the GCC.
Keith Beecham, VisitBritain’s Overseas Director said: “Destination Britain is another example of ways we continue to work with the APMEA trade, helping ensure Britain is front of mind in relation to destination choice. It also allows us to advertise our great British product across a large network of nations and enables us to give a path to export growth for UK businesses at a key time for the economy.
“This is considered one of our most popular events, with operators recognising the excellent potential of APMEA and the chance it brings to extend the millions of holiday makers coming back from the region annually. At the side of increased trade engagement and a brand new partnership with Emirates, this year will witness the continuation of our GREAT Britain campaign, inspiring more travel from an increasingly popular and high spending region.”
President of Emirates airline, Tim Clark, added: “Emirates’ partnership with VisitBritain underlines our commitment to supporting inbound tourism into the rustic. Emirates injects over £368 million every year into the local economies of the six gateways we operate from and in 2012, we carried almost 1.8 million visitors into the united kingdom, so this partnership is a natural extension of bolstering the benefit of our Dubai hub to seamlessly connect travellers from South East Asia, Australia, India and the center East to world-renowned attractions in Britain.”
