VisitBritain and Expedia have today (Tuesday 11 October) launched a multi-million pound three-year partnership to market Britain abroad to the US, Britain's most valuable inbound visitor market. 

According to VisitBritain, this partnership is targeted to deliver over £135 million of additional visitor spend to the UK economy over the three years.

The first phase of the partnership gets underway with  the launch of a six-month digital marketing campaign including online, social and blogger activity to promote '365 Days of #OMGB' moments across Britain. The campaign features a bespoke content platform to showcase the amazing year-round experiences on offer to US visitors across Britain's nations and regions. The content platform incorporates product and partner offers to promote and convert the inspiration to visit into bookings. 

A TV campaign will be launched in the US from January, to promote the great experiences and amazing moments that can only be experienced in Britain.

The first year of activity is part of a longer-term partnership between VisitBritain and Expedia with plans set to be announced in the coming weeks. 

Britain Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said:

“Britain is packed full of amazing moments and we want people to book a trip right now to come and experience the sheer diversity of culture, heritage and countryside across our nations and regions. Working with commercial partners including Expedia amplifies our global marketing reach as we drive the inspiration to visit into bookings, boosting the economy and jobs across Britain.”

Expedia Media Solutions Global Senior Vice President Noah Tratt said:

“We are uniquely positioned as a full-service OTA to offer destination marketing organizations partners, such as VisitBritain, a holistic way to market to and engage travelers around the world at scale, with integrated merchandising and products to drive bookings for real proven results. This partnership with VisitBritain, which builds on our successful collaboration together over the last five years, will influence travelers across the purchase journey by highlighting the many hidden gems across all parts of the country throughout the year with easy ways to book a trip to Britain to experience their own #OMGB moments.” 

The bespoke content platform also allows for other partners, including airline partners, destination management organizations and travel suppliers to provide detailed local information about places that are not so well known by international visitors.

Developing products that makes it easier for overseas visitors to navigate Britain and experience more of what the nations and regions have to offer is central to the partnership.

The US is Britain's most valuable inbound visitor market and also one of its largest. Visits from the US grew 10% to 3.3 million in 2015. Visitors from the US spent £3 billion, a record not only from this market but the first time a single visitor market has broken the £3 billion spending mark.

The '365 Days of #OMGB' campaign is part of the UK Government's global GREAT Britain campaign, which showcases the very best of what Britain has to offer as a place to visit, study and do business.

In August UK Prime Minister Theresa May launched a 'Tourism Action Plan' to ensure that Britain remains a top destination for visitors from across the globe.

And latest figures from VisitBritain showed that July was the highest month ever for inbound tourism to the UK with 3.8 million visits, up 2% on July last year. Overseas visitors to the UK spent £2.5 billion in July, 4% up on the same month last year.

Last year set a record for inbound tourism to Britain on visits and spend with 36.1 million visits, 5% up on 2014, and spending up 1% to £22.1 billion.

ENDS

About the Expedia group

The Expedia group (NASDAQ: EXPE) is the world's largest online travel company, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes leading online travel brands, such as:

Expedia.com®, a leading full service online travel company with localized sites in 33 countries
Hotels.com®, a preeminent global lodging expert operating in more than 65 countries and 35 languages with its award winning Hotels.com® Rewards loyalty program
Orbitz Worldwide, including leading U.S. travel websites Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com, as well as ebookers, a full service travel brand with websites in seven European countries
Expedia® Affiliate Network (EAN), a global B2B business that powers the hotel business of leading airlines, top consumer brands, online travel agencies and thousands of other partners through its API and template solutions

trivago®, a leading online hotel search with sites in 55 countries worldwide
HomeAway®, a global online marketplace for the vacation rental industry, which also includes the Abritel, FeWo-direkt and BedandBreakfast.com brands, among others
Egencia®, a leading corporate travel management company

Travelocity®, a leading online travel brand in the U.S. and Canada delivering customer service when and where our customers need it with the Customer 1st Guarantee
Hotwire®, inspiring spontaneous travel through Hot Rate® deals
Expedia® Media Solutions, the advertising sales division of the Expedia group that builds media partnerships and enables brand advertisers to target a highly-qualified audience of travel consumers
Wotif Group, a leading portfolio of travel brands including Wotif.com®, Wotif.co.nz, lastminute.com.au®, lastminute.co.nz and travel.com.au®

Classic Vacations®, a top luxury travel specialist
CarRentals.com™, a premier online car rental booking company with localized sites in 13 countries
Expedia Local Expert®, a provider of online and in-market concierge services, activities, experiences and ground transportation in hundreds of destinations worldwide
Venere.com™, an online hotel reservation specialist in Europe
Expedia® CruiseShipCenters®, a provider of exceptional value and expert advice for travelers booking cruises and vacations through its network of over 220 retail travel agency franchises across North America
 

For corporate and industry news and views, visit us at www.expediainc.com or follow us on Twitter @expediainc.

Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners.  © 2016 Expedia, Inc.  All rights reserved.  CST: 2029030-50

ENDS