6 February 2008
VisitBritain has joined forces with American Airlines for a new promotion to help boost visits from the United States to London and the rest of Britain
VisitBritain has joined forces with American Airlines for a new promotion to help boost visits from the United States to London and the rest of Britain. Some 630,000 American Airlines and VisitBritain customers will be offered the chance to take advantage of a series of special offers on travel in and around London as well as attractions and train travel to other parts of Britain.
Exclusive deals including 25% discounts on Oyster travel cards, traditional Travelcards, the London Pass and 10% off BritRail passes are available on a dedicated online shop, www.britainoffers.com/aa. The offers could help stimulate travel from the USA where visits to Britain are currently 201,000 short of their peak in 2000.
Led by VisitBritain’s office in the USA and supported by the organisation’s commercial and marketing services division, the promotion is among initiatives designed to help British tourism businesses extend the reach of their products to a greater pool of consumers and potential visitors. This marketing campaign with American Airlines also demonstrates the national tourism agency’s ability to help carriers seeking new ways to grow ancillary revenues.
Simon Bradley, VisitBritain’s general manager for the Americas, says: “America remains the biggest source of visitors for Britain’s inbound tourism industry. Although their spending in Britain reached a new record in 2006, short breaks of 1-3 nights now make up more than a third of trips by what have traditionally been long-staying visitors.
“The challenges of a weak dollar and increasing competition from rival destinations mean that we must remind them of value-for-money options. Working with companies such as American Airlines, we can offer American travellers great deals and help British tourism businesses reach new customers. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
VisitBritain has also undertaken commercial relationships with CarTrawler and Red Letter Days.
- ends -
Further information: Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager on 020 8563 3035 or 07951 996241
Notes to Editors
· VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.
· In 2006, there were 32.7 million visits to Britain, 9% up on 2005. They spent over £16 billion in the UK: a 12% increase on 2005.Globally, the UK retains 6th place in visitor arrivals, slipping one place to 6th in spend.
· VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the fourth year in a row at the 2007 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com. VisitBritain plans to increase this to 25 million by 2009.
www.visitbritain.com/presscentre