VisitEngland and Marketing Liverpool’s partnership to boost domestic breaks ramps up as summer holidays get underway.
James Wood, Marketing Liverpool Campaign Manager
VisitEngland and Marketing Liverpool are stepping-up our UK-wide ‘Escape the Everyday’ campaign to help drive domestic day trips and overnight breaks as the summer holidays begin.
The ‘Escape The Everyday’ campaign, first launched in September 2020, highlights the quality destinations, visitor attractions and experiences on offer across the UK to build back demand for domestic breaks and boost consumer confidence as restrictions lift.
The summer campaign ‘Escape the Everyday – Enjoy the UK this Summer’ has a focus on cities and city attractions as well as regional gateways which have been hit particularly hard by the lack of international visitors and that rely on their spending.
Marketing Liverpool’s Campaign Manager, James Wood, told us more about the campaign:
“Liverpool is the ideal city to represent this exciting new VisitEngland campaign, which is all about celebrating this glorious summer, in person, with our friends and family, who we have missed so much, by reconnecting with our nation’s greatest ‘city-break’ destinations.
“What I love about this campaign is that it’s all about how people bring places to life and that no place is more beautiful or wondrous than when it is seen through the eyes of real, live people, for the first time.
“The campaign images feature Yaw Owusu, Curator of Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) at Liverpool’s Goodness Gracious Roof Garden. Yaw’s a real character and a fantastic representative for our city and the images capture his lively, fun-loving personality brilliantly.
LIFM Curator, Yaw Owusu at Liverpool’s Goodness Gracious Me Roof Garden, part of the VisitBritain ‘Escape the Everyday’ campaign.
James continued:
“Our visitors, from all over the UK and the rest of the world are a crucial part of our unique culture and we can’t wait to welcome them here again. Liverpool is such a lively, vibrant and sociable place – a place for enjoying real, live people and experiences. No photo or video could ever really do us justice.
“Liverpool needs to be seen to truly be experienced and we have a great summer planned for visitors looking for new adventures, out in the open, including International Beatles Week, Creamfields and Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, alongside all our usual year-round attractions.
“We also have lots of new ‘rainy day’ indoor activities this season, including the unique roller-skating experience ‘Rollerdrome’ and the new Lucien Freud – Real Lives exhibit at Tate Liverpool, which is now open and I can’t wait to see.
“So, as you can see, Liverpool really is perfectly placed to shatter lockdown blues, escape the everyday, re-emerge from restrictions and make up for lost time. Liverpool’s ready and waiting to welcome all our wonderful visitors once again!”
VisitEngland’s Tourism Minister, Nigel Huddleston added:
“There is so much to see and do in our vibrant towns, cities and villages across all corners of the United Kingdom and we want people to make the most of our tourism offer and rediscover summer safely. It’s been a challenging period for our brilliant tourism and hospitality businesses but they’re ready to welcome us back and I encourage people to show their support for this important industry.”
Locations featured in the digital billboards also include: London – Tower Bridge; Belfast – Titanic Belfast; Cardiff – Cardiff Castle; Glasgow – Glasgow Cloisters.
VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes also strongly supports the ethos behind this new campaign, stating:
“As we emerge from lockdown, reconnect with family and friends and with international visitors slower to return, now is the time to book a domestic city break and also support our local businesses, attractions and destinations as they start to rebuild. Whether it’s a day trip to a local attraction or an overnight stay, whether dining out in our vibrant cafés or exploring our world-class museums and galleries, we want people to rediscover and take a new look at what’s on their doorstep.”
The £5.4 million campaign kicks up a gear from this week with the launch of more than 1200 digital billboard adverts showcasing activities and experiences in cities across the UK as well as advertising on radio, digital audio and podcast platforms. A new short video and branded content across social media as well as ‘on demand’ television advertising will launch in August.
The campaign also drives online ‘traffic’ to visitbritain.com/escape-everyday with ideas and links on city-focused experiences across the nations and regions, with advice also to support visitors on travelling responsibly. Destinations across England are also ‘taking over’ VisitEngland’s Instagram on dedicated dates from July through to early September to promote their local tourism businesses and experiences nationally and drive bookings.
A free Escape the Everyday campaign toolkit is available for destinations and tourism businesses across the UK with campaign information, ways to get involved and marketing materials that can be adapted to promote local products and services, attractions and experiences with the theme of ‘reconnection.’
The tourism agency’s latest forecasts show that domestic tourism spending is estimated this year of £51.4 billion, just over half of the £91.6 billion in 2019. Last year alone saw about two-thirds of the value wiped off the domestic tourism industry in Britain, a £58 billion loss to the economy.
Its forecast for inbound tourism spending in the UK this year is £6.2 billion, less than a quarter of the £28.4 billion in 2019.
VisitEngland’s latest domestic consumer sentiment research showed that less than half of those intending to travel domestically had booked a trip from July to September, suggesting a wait and see approach
The research has also shown slow but steady gains in consumer confidence in taking domestic trips, demonstrating the importance of extending the tourism season this year and that there is still a job to do to boost confidence.
The ‘Escape the Everyday – Enjoy the UK this Summer’ campaign is part of the UK Government’s GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign.
For more information on things to do in Liverpool this summer visit visitliverpool.com