ExploreGB 2016 has officially kicked off in Liverpool to showcase Great Britain to 320 worldwide buyers including a number of Australian wholesalers.
KarryOn is reporting from the annual two day event being held this year at the BT Convention Centre on Liverpool’s transformed waterfront.
The event has been strategically positioned this year in the north of England to tie in with Visit Britain’s continued push for International business and leisure visitors to explore the many diverse experiences on offer outside of London.
The United Nations of Travel at ExploreGB
320 buyers from 40 different countries are in attendance to get the lowdown on what’s new and do business with 300 suppliers ranging from museums and attractions to hotels, tours and Tourism Boards. Over the two days a massive 30,000 appointments will take place as well as a host of product workshops.
Overall the visitation numbers are looking extremely healthy for Visit Britain with another record year in 2015 and global visitors up 4% to 35.8 million – the fifth consecutive year of growth.
Our Comms Director @patriciayatesVB being interviewed by @bbcmerseyside at the start of #ExploreGB #LoveTheNorth pic.twitter.com/1jFZFDRuxR
— VisitBritain Biz (@VisitBritainBiz) March 3, 2016
Australian visitors travelling to Britain grew by 8% in 2015 despite a stronger pound meaning our Australian dollar didn’t quite travel as far. And whilst we were 10th in the global visitor stakes, on the spending front we came in fourth in the world with an average spend of 1,157 pounds racked up per visitor.
Already in recent weeks we’ve seen the pound drop further against the dollar and at the time of writing this it was sitting at 52 cents to the pound.
The big continued push for Visit Britain is to drive more visitors to more regions of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Marketing initiatives such as the recently launched ‘Go a little further’ Campaign focuses on the North’s easy accessibility from both London by rail (just 2-3 hours) and Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle as major inbound flight hubs for overseas passengers from all over the world. Many ports of which have all had increased airline seat capacity in the last year and continue to do so.
Delegates still arriving for #ExploreGB we’re here to help you get to your hotel ?? pic.twitter.com/43onj4B70p
— Liverpool CVB (@MeetLiverpool) March 2, 2016
The North West region of England has already welcomed 2.1 million visitors in the first 9 months of 2015, a 12% increase on the same period in 2014.
Visit Britain are also about to launch a new training portal for agents in Australia to skill up on Britain and get their chance to win their own trip to see it for themselves. Stay tuned for more on KarryOn.
ExploreGB will conclude on Friday afternoon with many of the hosted buyers setting off on one of 15 uniquely designed famils around Britain to see and experience it for themselves.
We’ll be taking a closer look at the South West of England and bringing you more stories and updates of just what’s happening in Britain right now.