AS Britain gets ready to play host to two iconic events, The Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics this summer, is committed to ensuring that both events provide a successful experience for tourists. Carol Maddison, manager UAE, VisitBritain speaks to TTN about what’s in store.
How has British tourism performed over the last twelve months? Can you give us an insight into what’s been happening in the lead up to the Summer Olympics and Paralympics?
2011 has been an excellent year in terms of visitor numbers and spend from this rgion. There’s been a four per cent increase in visits from the UAE, and a 10 per cent increase in visits from the GCC as a whole with an increase in spend of about 13 per cent, most of it owing to a remarkable increase in visits and spend from Saudi Arabia.
The Summer Olympics in 2012 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase Britain, allowing us to revitalise Britain’s appeal in mature markets and help us position it on the destination wish list of first time visitors.
As part of our ‘Great Britain – You’re Invited’ marketing programme, which we are undertaking with commercial partners, we have a fantastic range of deals in place to entice visitors to travel to Britain throughout 2012. There is the London 2012 Festival, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June, the Wales Coastal Footpath, the World Shakespeare Festival, the Scotland Year of Creativity among other world class events and festivals happening around Britain in the lead up to the Olympics.
VisitBritain has estimated that the UK will see over 30mn visitors in 2012. How much do you expect the Middle East to contribute to that figure, in terms of arrivals and spends?
With regards to the UAE, optimism is high, as all the Olympic packages offered by MMI Travel, the authorized Olympic tickets reseller in the UAE, are already sold out. There is also the UAE Olympic Football team getting through to the Olympics. Also given the British expat population, we are expecting about 250,000 visitors from the UAE this year spending more than £320 million ($507 million).
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Britain hope to attract more visitors with various events and festivals taking place across the country |
From the GCC as a whole, we are expected more than half a million visitors and another one hundred thousand from other Middle East countries, which we are trying not to over speculate given the current political and economic situation in a number of Arab states.
What are forward bookings into summer like at the moment?
We don’t have exact figures, but the MMI sales are keeping us positive and the UAE Football team will definitely provide a push.
There are also important deterrent factors to consider here; one is that Ramadan this year coincides with the Olympic dates that run from July 27 to August 12; two is the perception that hotels will be expensive, and three there is the worry of displacement. These factors might defer travellers to travel to UK post Ramadan, staying for shorter periods in comparison to the longer traditional vacations visitors from this region are accustomed to taking in the summer time.
What markets, across the GCC, is expected to drive this growth?
Markets to drive growth are most likely UAE and Saudi Arabia. Given the above stated visitor numbers, the UAE accounts for more than 50 per cent of visitors from the GCC followed by Saudi Arabia.
Given the region’s love of sports tourism, what kind of interests are you seeing from the Arab travellers for the Games?
We do have anecdotal info on increased interest in the Olympics from the UAE with the UAE Olympic football team getting through. However, we remain a bit sceptical, given that Ramadan is coinciding with the Games period.
How successful has the Great Britain – You’re Invited’ campaign been in the region?
‘Great Britain – You’re Invited’ is a global campaign running until 2014. The campaign is rolling out in stages across many regions. The numbers gathered so far have been very positive for the UAE market and we are expecting even better results in the future, as the campaign is now showcasing a short film on Britain done by the internationally acclaimed Emirati film director Ali F. Mostafa inviting people to see what Britain has to offer. VisitBritain has recently appointed Ali Mostafa as its UAE Goodwill Ambassador to help raise awareness of Britain as a world-class and uniquely varied tourism destination.
How important is social media today and what kind of impact has it made for VisitBritain?
Our Facebook Fan page, LoveUK, has more than 750,000 fans with engagement levels running at over one per cent, which is much higher than the industry standard of 0.22 per cent. We are the number one Tourist Board account on Twitter according to Klout Score.
In terms of conversions, recent financial reports from the VisitBritain Online Shop show people who arrive at the shop via our Facebook fan page are 28 per cent more likely to buy and their shopping baskets are 58 per cent bigger.
Also, utilising Flickr to crowd-source images for our website www.visitbritain.com saved us over £200,000 ($316,900) with a complete image refresh (where 95 per cent of the imagery is now for free and consumer generated). VisitBritain’s Flickr group also created a community of over 250 photography ambassadors from around the world who are influencing other potential visitors.
What are your expectations at Destination Britain and Ireland this year?
Our expectations this year are to make a really big impact about our Great campaign and to really get across the message about what an amazing year 2012 is going to be in Britain. Participation is looking really strong this year with a really good representation of companies that are new to the event.