VisitBritain, the nation’s tourism agency, has teamed up with the airline Emirates in the new campaign that primarily targets well-off 35-55 year-olds in China, India, UAE and Singapore.
The push comes at a time of major refocus for VisitBritain, which earlier this month announced it had to withdraw all marketing campaigns from 14 countries as a result of the Government’s spending cuts.
The primary hook of the new £489,100 campaign will be to feature some of the “great luxury experiences” that can only be found in Britain, many of which are built around the nation’s tradition.
As part of this, VisitBritain and Emirates are featuring a number of high-end hotels and fine-dining restaurants, which are being promoted to the target groups.
“Britain is already regarded by many of the international jet-set as the original home of luxury, thanks to our traditions and history of service,” said Laurence Bresh, director of marketing, VisitBritain.
“Whether these visitors have a passion for rubbing shoulders with the British elite at Royal Ascot, shopping at Harrods, taking a journey on the Orient-Express or a stay at the May Fair London, we have many luxurious experiences just waiting to be enjoyed.”
Featured hotels and restaurants
Participating venues will benefit from promotional activity via press advertising, online banners, e-mail direct marketing and a campaign microsite, available here.
The hotels included, some of which have contributed to the cost of the campaign, are: The May Fair, London; The Balmoral, Edinburgh; the Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath; Clivenden, Berkshire; Bodysgallen Hall and Spa, Llandudno, Wales; Bovey Castle, Dartmoor National Park; The Merchant Hotel, Belfast; Linthwaite House, the Lake District; One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow; and Cheval Residences, London.
Featured fine-dining restaurants – or restaurants in hotels – are: Geneagles, Perthsire; The Savoy, London; Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire; Ynyshir Hall, Powys, Wales; Kinloch Lodge, Isle of Skye; The Ritz London; Fat Duck, Berkshire; and Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Wales.
Luxury audience
According to VisitBritain the number of ‘High Net Worth’ individuals – wealthy people with more than $1m in disposable funds – grew by 17.1 per cent in 2009 to 10 million. The group also noted that for the first time there are as many of these individual in Asia as in Europe and North America - about three million.
The VisitBritain and Emirates campaign is being launched in China, India, UAE, and Singapore and primarily targets middle-aged international travelers who are “savvy luxury connoisseurs”.
“What unifies this audience is the way they travel and the quality of product and service they expect to enjoy,” says VisitBritain.
“They want high quality and service with authentic one-off experiences, personalised itineraries and to attend events they can tell their friends about with brands they trust.”
A spokesperson for Emirates said the airline’s international network spans over 110 destinations. It operates 98 flights a week to the UK, with services to London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow.