No matter what side of the pond you’re on, chances are the first stop in your travel research is the Internet.
That’s why VisitBritain, the U.K.’s tourism board, is focusing its energy on the Web, to sway potential visitors as early as possible in their vacation and business travel planning.
“All our research shows that the Web is the primary vehicle people are using today to research a destination,” says Rupert Peters, executive vice president, VisitBritain, the Americas. “Our main goal is to get behind the decision to travel. We just don’t want to be a reactive agency. We want to be the trigger in the decision making process between thinking about a vacation and definitely deciding to go to Britain.”
VisitBritain has a database of two million travelers, including roughly 550,000 who have opted in to receive e-mail communications. Visitors to the site are asked for information such as their interests, where they live, age grouping and other psychographic and demographic data to help target messages.
E-newsletters are sent every other month, targeted to niches such as family travel, gay and lesbian interests, music, history and heritage.
VisitBritain does not book travel directly, rather letting third party vendors handle those arrangements. But the site is beginning to get more commercial, by offering value-added products like the Oyster Card, which guarantees travelers the cheapest fare on the Tube subway system any day or time of the week. VisitBritain is the exclusive overseas vendor for the cards.
“We think it’s a good thing for us to sell those cards, because one of our main challenges is obviously [providing] a good value equation because of the weakness of the dollar—or the strength of the sterling, depending on how you look at it,” says Peters. “Britain can be perceived as being an expensive destination, so we need to combat that.”
The card is being promoted in e-mail newsletters geared to segments such as potential visitors interested in cities, he adds. “When we talk about London and the fact that all the museums and galleries in London are free, [we mention] that best way of getting around London is on the Tube. Get your Oyster Card and you can get the best rate.”
Peters acknowledges that this, of course, is easier to promote if someone has an understanding of the English capital’s transport system. That’s why the VisitBritain.com site includes a beginners’ step-by-step guide of using the card and getting around by Tube.
The United States is the largest market for VisitBritain, which has 36 offices worldwide. Growth in travel to the U.K. is being seen from many European countries such as France and Germany, thanks to the surge in low cost airlines in those regions. “But in terms of overseas spending, the U.S. is still the most important market,” he says.
The target audience is very specific, notes Peters. VisitBritain’s best prospects are baby boomers, 45 to 60 years old. They are educated and affluent. That said, don’t think Generations X and Y are off Britain’s radar. “We have a number of subsegments in those groupings,” he says. “For example, we run microcampaigns targeting the gay and lesbian market.”
2005 was a record year for U.K. tourism; that year, the country hosted 30 million visitors, who spent £14 billion ($27.3 billion USD), £2.4 billion ($4.7 billion USD) of which came from U.S. visitors. While complete 2006 weren’t available at press time, Peters says things look to be up 7% for volume of worldwide visitors and 8% for money spent.
The site utilizes search, pay per click advertising and content distribution deals with major online newspapers in key demographic areas, including the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
“One of the surprising things in terms of where our customers come from in the U.S. is that California is our biggest source state,” says Peters, noting the next biggest is New York. “I like to think you’ve got to travel a little bit to get a bit of quality.”
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