The United Arab Emirates is the UK’s 20th largest inbound visitor market
Link to assets: https://we.tl/t-NsAignlO07
Dubai, UAE – February 27 2023: VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, is this week launching a new marketing campaign aimed at attracting visitors to Britain from the GCC region. The international GREAT Britain marketing campaign invites visitors to ‘See Things Differently’, showcasing Britain as a welcoming, dynamic, exciting and inclusive destination with a warm British welcome at its heart.
The multi-media advertising campaign – called ‘Spilling the Tea on Great Britain’ – uses a play on Britain’s love of tea, through destination images and short films, to tell a fresh and exciting story about the experiences on offer showing visitors that ‘whatever your cup of tea, we’ve got it.’
From a ‘Festival’ themed tea that highlights Britain’s live music scene to a ‘Graffi-tea’ that celebrates its vibrant cities and cultural attractions. A ‘Surf’ theme shows Britain’s coastal experiences, ‘#nofilter’ its natural beauty and a ‘Monster Hunting’ tea draws inspiration from Britain’s historical discoveries and legendary myths including world-famous Nessie the Loch Ness Monster.
A limited release of the themed teas, blended by British tea company Tregothnan, are set to be available for tastings at VisitBritain promotional and trade events.
VisitBritain’s Interim Deputy Director Carol Maddison said:
“The GCC is an important tourism market for Britain and we are delighted to be running this dedicated campaign, tapping into motivations for travel this year, to build on the strong recovery we have seen.”
“Britain is packed full of new and invigorating experiences for visitors to come and enjoy, from adrenaline filled coastal and countryside adventures to iconic summer festivals, from street food tours to street art tours to afternoon teas with a magical twist. By showing our warm British welcome and telling the story of our vibrant and varied destinations we want to inspire visitors from the GCC to discover more, stay longer and to explore year-round.”
The campaign’s creative content has been developed based on VisitBritain’s latest research into motivations for travel to Britain now, with discovering new and surprising experiences high on the wish list for its target audiences. The campaign will have a dedicated English and Arabic website which will inspire visitors with ideas and activities themed around the ‘Spilling the Tea’ campaign.
The ‘Spill the Tea’ campaign, with a budget of over AED 5,000,000 in the GCC, is using a mix of advertising channels. These range from short films and branded content across social media including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to digital display advertising, digital out of home along Riyadh Boulevard, radio and print media.
VisitBritain is also working with premier trade partners such as WeGo as well as content creators Matador to amplify the campaign’s reach in the GCC and to drive bookings ahead of spring and summer travel.
This first phase of the campaign is set to run until spring with new content launching throughout the coming months to also capture Britain’s major events in 2023 from the Coronation of King Charles III in May to Liverpool hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, on behalf of Ukraine, also in May.
The United Arab Emirates is the UK’s 20th largest inbound visitor market and ninth most valuable in terms of visitor spending. In 2019 there were 553,000 visits from the United Arab Emirates to the UK, with those visitors spending £869 million on their trips.
Spending in the UK by visitors from the United Arab Emirates is forecast to reach 2019 levels by 2023 with visits expected to exceed pre-COVID levels by 2025.
VisitBritain’s ‘See Things Differently’ campaign is part of the UK Government’s GREAT campaign.
- The launch film video for Spilling the Tea is also available at this link in English here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv93DkXCBgI and in Arabic here: https://youtu.be/edJHZJNkMaM
- Further examples of short clips from the ‘Spilling the Tea’ campaign can be accessed on these links here:
- #Surf tea clip featuring Wales here:
- Monster Hunting tea clip featuring Scottish Highlands here:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1SnoojdyLFE.
- #NoFilter tea clip featuring Brighton here:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n3QemFss0dk.
- To drive spending and urgency to visit. the campaign is targeting visitors that VisitBritain’s research shows have the greatest commitment and intent to travel internationally this year. It terms this audience ‘Experience Seekers’ – defined as high value travellers who are spontaneous, pack lots into their holidays and are looking for exciting new ideas and experiences to share with others. Almost 7 in 10 Experience Seekers from the United Arab Emirates will be driven to choose their next destination by ‘experiences I can’t have anywhere else’
- VisitBritain’s latest research also shows that one of the top influences for visitors when it comes to destination choice globally is that it is a welcoming place to visit.
- VisitBritain’s latest forecast for 2023 estimates 35.1 million inbound visits overall to the UK, 86% of 2019 levels and 18% higher than levels seen in 2022. Its forecast for overseas visitor spending in the UK this year is £29.5 billion, a projected record high for annual inbound visitor spend.
- For further information on other events in Britain in 2023, please see https://www.visitbritain.com/en/how-see-things-differently-britain-2023
- For more information about the UK Government’s GREAT campaign see: https://www.greatcampaign.com/
