Visit Britain and iambassador are proud to announce the launch of the Great Britain Countryside Collection. iambassador is excited to partner with Visit Britain to deliver the brand ambassadors for the “Countryside is GREAT” campaign. Our iambassador bloggers Rob Lloyd, Rachelle Lucas and Kirsten Alana explored Wales, Scotland and the Cotswolds (England) respectively and their content, itineraries and experiences are now prominently featured on the Countryside Collection website.
Excerpt from the press release dated 28th January 2015:
“Tourism Minister Helen Grant joins VisitBritain to launch the three-year ‘Countryside is GREAT’ campaign designed to grow international visits and spend across the country to an invited industry audience, showing how everyone can get involved. VisitBritain’s ambition is to have generated extra visitor spend of £70 million which would see the creation of 1,296 new jobs by 2018.
Britain’s ‘natural beauty’ has been overlooked compared to other international destinations. Britain is currently ranked an overall 20th out of 50 countries for being ‘rich in natural beauty’ in the 2014 Anholt-Gfk Nation Brand Index. In a separate bespoke wave of the study commissioned by VisitBritain, our natural beauty was consistently positioned behind the likes of America, Australia and Canada. However, in the last four years VisitBritain’s GREAT campaign has taken significant strides in boosting perceptions in some of the UK’s key tourism markets. Britain’s highest 2014 ranking for ‘natural beauty’ – fifth place – came from India, followed by ninth place from China and twelfth from Australia. The largest improvement was from Brazil, moving up ten places to 29th in a year.
VisitBritain research shows that a wide range of visitors already enjoy our countryside offer. In 2013 a significant proportion of visitors from New Zealand (43%), Australia (41%), Canada (33%), China (32%), UAE (29%) and Germany (27%) all explored Britain’s countryside and villages.
The Countryside is GREAT campaign aims to build on this interest and show potential visitors what is on offer, where to find great experiences and most importantly, how to get there. VisitBritain will feature bespoke, curated countryside itineraries, experiences, services and packages on ‘The Countryside Collection’ campaign website (http://countryside.visitbritain.com/en) and across print media. VisitBritain brand ambassadors will also share their own chronicled countryside experiences, from zip-lining in Wales to champagne cruising on a Scottish loch, or sampling local produce in an award-winning gastro pub after a coastal walk.
The regions featuring in the first year of the campaign are the Scottish Highlands, Peak District, Cotswolds, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, North Wales, Warwickshire, Lake District and Yorkshire. VisitBritain research shows that the proportion of holidaying tourists likely to take part in countryside-related activities is currently highest amongst those visiting the South West, Wales and Scotland and Yorkshire.”
This campaign marks another milestone in how travel bloggers and tourism boards collaborate to create an exciting project that brings authentic experiences to life through the eyes of the ambassadors. iambassador is proud to be a part of this campaign to show the world the great diversity of attractions in the British countryside.
Follow the hashtag #CountrysideGB to find out more.
