VisitBritain and the GREAT Britain campaign launch new magazine to entice more visitors to Britain

As the number of international visits to Britain continues to break records, VisitBritain and the GREAT Britain campaign have launched a new annual magazine aimed at inspiring even more people to visit Britain.

The ‘Imagination - Make Britain Your Own ' magazine showcases why Britain is an ideal place to holiday, study and do business by profiling some of Britain's most iconic people, places and things to do. Featured in the first issue are British adventurer and TV host Bear Grylls talking about studying in the UK, a feature on Highclere Castle in Berkshire, the setting for hit TV series Downton Abbey, as well as profiles on shopping, food and adventure to name just a few.

The 86-page magazine is available in print and digital formats and has been translated into 10 languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian-Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) giving it a combined global reach in the tens of millions and ensuring VisitBritain can continue raising Britain's profile around the world.

VisitBritain Marketing Director Joss Croft said:

"Everything we do is motivated by the goal to add value to the tourism industry, maximising the taxpayers' investment in tourism and driving economic growth across the nations and regions ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism are felt across the whole of Britain.

"This magazine provides a valuable marketing tool for VisitBritain and its partners because it puts the spotlight on Britain as a diverse destination that offers something for everyone, from international tourists and students, to investors and international businesses."

As well as providing inspiring ideas on what to see and do in Britain, the new magazine profiles the experiences of overseas students studying in the UK and also features some of the nation's top creative innovators. There's also a competition to win a theatre trip to Britain.

The GREAT Britain campaign's partners - the British Council, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Trade and Investment - are promoting the magazine in emerging tourism markets including South Korea, Singapore and Mexico, which show strong tourism growth potential but where VisitBritain currently has no physical presence.

Digital editions of the magazine, including foreign language versions, can be viewed online or downloaded at: www.visitbritain.com/magazine

International visits to Britain for the first nine months of 2015 have broken previous records according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. There were 27.1 million visits to Britain from January to September this year, a 3% increase compared to the same period in 2014.

Spending by international visitors in September was £2.2 billion, equalling last year's record spend for the same month. Overall, spending by visitors for the first nine months of 2015 was £16.5 billion.

Tourism is Britain's seventh largest export industry and third largest service sector. The industry is also a major job creator, for example every 22 additional Chinese visitors that come to Britain create an additional job in the sector. Inbound tourism was worth more than £26 billion to the UK economy in 2013.

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The magazine can be downloaded: www.visitbritain.com/magazine

For more information please contact Tracey Edginton at VisitBritain: tracey.edginton@visitbritain.org
/ 020 7578 1098 or 07974 111 076