THE INBOUND tourism market is recovering globally, but not at a rapid pace, and leisure travel remains more resilient than business travel, according to a VisitBritain executive at the 2010 Destination Britain & Ireland (DEBI) event, a yearly business-to-business travel trade show which took place in the Middle East for the first time.
Talking to more than 200 travel professionals from the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region, Keith Beecham, VisitBritain's overseas network director, also revealed that the concept of authenticity is a key driver for Britain’s tourism, and a weaker pound will complement the current travel trend for value-for-money holidays.
"The global tourism industry is slowly emerging from the recession. A weaker currency results in more value for visitors, and currently Britain has a price advantage for the APMEA region compared to most currencies," said Beecham.
"Looking ahead, we expect the demand for leisure travel to continue to increase and Britain has a unique strength where we thrive on the concept of authenticity in our tourism offerings, as opposed to manufactured experiences," he added.
Beecham further explained that culture and heritage is a crucial ingredient for destination success for VisitBritain, with a total of £4.5 billion ($6.4 billion) worth of inbound visitor spending per year. VisitBritain also plans to further exploit its natural scenic beauty, which is less well-known overseas than Britain's culture and heritage offerings.
Currently, the APMEA region delivers 13 per cent of visitors to Britain, however this number accounts for 25 per cent of the total visitor spending, signifying the strong importance and potential for the APMEA region.
Global marketing initiatives by VisitBritain are operated under three segmentations: Dynamic Britain, Classic Britain and Luxury Britain.
DEBI is VisitBritain's biggest trade event of its kind in the APMEA region, with more than 200 key companies and travel industry specialists attending the three day event in Dubai which opened to huge success with 25 per cent new companies from the UK and Ireland attending to showcase their latest travel and tourism offerings.
2010 is the seventh consecutive year that DEBI has taken place in the APMEA region. Previous locations include Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Australia, and Hong Kong.