Tourism industry professionals have celebrated the launch of a new venture, Waterscape.com, at the Britain and London Visitor Centre.
Waterscape.com is the new online venture set up to broaden the appeal of Britain’s lakes, rivers and canals, establishing them as one of the top UK travel and leisure destinations.
Wholly-owned by British Waterways, Waterscape.com is the UK’s first comprehensive online guide to all of Britain’s waterways and will introduce consumers to a wide range of waterway leisure products and services.
Waterscape.com marketing activities will also promote the growing waterside commercial phenomenon, as more businesses and leisure operations move to lake, river and canal locations. A major national marketing programme to attract consumers to spend their leisure time on and by the UK’s inland waterways includes online advertising and an extensive national and regional promotional campaign. A 13-week national TV sponsorship with GMTV is also running throughout the summer.
Waterscape.com provides a comprehensive source of information for everything related to the enjoyment of inland waterways. The site contains trip planners to help people plan boat trips, walks or cycle rides; listings for all holiday hire boats and waterside holiday cottages (including a facility for online booking) and information on waterside pubs and restaurants. The site also features online waterway guides with information on visitor attractions, local history, wildlife and more.
With 3,000 miles of inland waterways, over half the population lives within five miles of a lake, river or canal and more than 16 million visitors already make 250 million visits to the waterways each year.
Tom Wright, Chief Executive of VisitBritain, said, “As a major new tourism marketing project, Waterscape.com represents an important development in the industry.” Simon Parker, managing director of Waterscape Ltd, added, “Waterscape.com will promote the entire waterway network as a tourist destination making them more accessible to everyone.