Bath Tourism Plus Leads Trade Missions to Attract High Spending Visitors
23rd March 2012
Bath Tourism Plus Leads Trade Missions to Attract High Spending Visitors
Aiming to attract more high spending overseas visitors and tour planners to the city, Bath Tourism Plus (BTP), the destination-marketing organisation for Bath and the surrounding areas, recently represented the destination at three key international events – The New York Travel Show, the March Marketplace and Confex.
New York Times Travel Show (2-4 March)
On the 2nd March, representatives from Bath Tourism Plus, Destination Bristol and Bristol Airport travelled to New York to showcase South West England at the New York Times Travel Show.
During the three-day event they spoke to many of the 18,000 attendees, many of who are planning to visit Britain during 2012 or in the future.
It was particularly encouraging for the South West team to hear that those who were already visiting Britain for the Olympics or others who had previously visited London, were also interested in visiting other parts of the UK.
Pleased with the reception from the show’s audience, Marie Mathews from BTP: ‘The New York Travel Show was a great opportunity to speak to all of them about Bath’s unique spa, attractions and heritage, which are always really popular with US visitors.’
While in New York, the partners also hosted a dinner for key travel trade and media representatives, many of whom were looking at alternative destinations to London in 2012 and beyond. Although it was clear that Bath’s key selling points – its heritage, spa and connections with Jane Austen - were well known, there was a real interest in Bath’s inimitable charm and year round cultural offering.
March Marketplace (19-20 March)
Organised by VisitBritain, Bath Tourism Plus attended the March Marketplace event at Wembley Stadium on 19 and 20 March.
This two day ‘meet the buyer’ event, saw international delegates from over 20 foreign markets including US, China, India, Brazil, Russia and Europe, in discussions with a range of UK destinations. Bath Tourism Plus used this opportunity to sell Bath’s unique attributes to over 150 international buyers, with the aim of ensuring Bath is included in future itineraries of groups travelling from each of the countries.
As part of the event, Bath also hosted two travel trade groups from France and Australia, which brought key tour organisers and decision makers to the city to experience first hand what Bath can offer visitors.
Confex (19-21 March)
In a drive to attract more business events to Bath, Bath Tourism Plus exhibited at International Confex at the Excel Centre in London on 19 March. The three day event provided BTP with the opportunity to meet international meeting and incentive travel buyers from around the globe and encourage them to bring their business events to Bath. Conference Executive Amy Barber was able to highlight Bath’s many unusual key meetings and events venues in the city: ‘Here at BTP we continually look to keep ahead of our competitors by providing business travellers with unique venues and great incentives for corporate groups. We are hopeful that one of the leads gained by our partners – Bath Priory, Longleat, Bailbrook House - will convert to real business.
Chief Executive of Bath Tourism Plus, Nick Brooks-Sykes is very keen to increase the profile and awareness of Bath in key overseas markets in 2012: ‘This year, the Queen’s Jubilee and the 2012 Games provide a great opportunity for Britain to gain additional overseas visitors and provide the leverage for Bath to increase its tourism value by £43m a year. However, as the promoters of Bath, we need to ensure that the city’s unique charms are made clear to visitors and those responsible for bringing visitors to our city. If we are to compete with other destinations and ensure visitors make Bath part of their British tour in this momentous year, we need to make sure that we are selling Bath at every opportunity..’
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Notes to Editors:
For further information please contact Audra McSherry at Bath Tourism Plus on 01225 3224434 or email: audra_mcsherry@bathtourism.co.uk or visit www.visitbath.co.uk, the official tourism website for Bath and the surrounding area.
Bath Tourism Plus
Working with the public and private sectors, Bath’s destination marketing organisation, Bath Tourism Plus, takes full responsibility for co-ordinating the work of a busy tourist information centre, the marketing of Bath and the surrounding area to leisure and business travellers, PR activity to attract the nation’s top travel writers, a conference office, and development of Bath’s official destination website www.visitbath.co.uk
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