HEATHROW CHAMPIONS YORKSHIRE IN RUN UP TO TOUR DE FRANCE

The promotional GREAT campaign images will be live across 134 digital screens in all terminals at Heathrow, illustrating the natural beauty of Yorkshire’s celebrated countryside, as well as its retail and architectural strengths.

Striking images of Brodsworth Hall and Gardens in South Yorkshire, Buttertubs Pass in the Yorkshire Dales, Sutton Bank in the North York Moors and Leeds Victoria Arcade in West Yorkshire1 all feature in the adverts, which aim to encourage tourism to Yorkshire before, during and after its hosting of the Tour de France Grand Départ in July.

The new poster ads make up the second round of a 12-month advertising programme worth £4 million, gifted by Heathrow to help VisitBritain promote Britain’s nations and regions to international visitors.

International tourism to Yorkshire is on the rise. In 2013 the region welcomed 1.2 million visits from overseas - an increase of 11.7% on the previous year and almost back to 2008’s pre-economic crisis record. Visitors spent an average of 8.6 nights in Yorkshire on these visits and the total amount spent in 2013 reached a new record of £584 million - a significant uplift of 34.8% on the previous year.

Leeds and York consistently make the top twenty most visited cities in Britain by international visitors. In 2013 York was the 14^th most visited city - up four places from 2012, when it held 18^th place. Leeds reached 11^th place in 2013, moving up from 12^th place in 2012. There were 36% more visitors to the city of York in 2013 (271,000 visits) compared to 2012.

Joss Croft, Marketing Director of VisitBritain said: “This is Yorkshire’s time to shine. Building on the record spend figures across the region, we want to enhance the tourism opportunities surrounding the Grand Départ and inspire our international visitors to explore Britain as they pass through Heathrow airport.

“Our partnership with Heathrow will continue our promotional activity to ensure that the economic growth from tourism and the jobs that the industry delivers are spread right across the country.”

Colin Matthews, Heathrow’s CEO said: “Around 13 million passengers a year already use Heathrow as their gateway to Britain’s regions and have the option to fly directly to Leeds Bradford Airport from Heathrow. This partnership with VisitBritain is designed to inspire passengers to explore further afield in the UK during their visit - or on future trips.

“We were delighted with the first round of adverts and the second round does not disappoint. Yorkshire is a beautiful region and we want to play our part to educate and encourage our passengers of the breadth and beauty that the UK has to offer. We hope these ads will support Yorkshire to benefit from their direct link to the UK’s only hub airport.”

The first three months of Heathrow’s partnership advertising with VisitBritain launched in March, promoting the previously flood hit areas of Devon, Cornwall, Llanddwyn Island (Wales Coast Path) and Glastonbury, to show they were back on track and open for business.