Spreading the global message: VisitBritain

A billboard promoting UK tourism in Shanghai. VisitBritain forecasts that the nation will attract 30.7 million visitors from all over the world this year, spending 17.6 billion pounds ($27 billion). [Photo/China Daily]

Forecasts suggest 30.7m visitors will spend 17.6b pounds this summer

The UK government's tourism agency VisitBritain has come up with a number of novel approaches to attract Chinese tourists during and after the London Olympics.

Within the past few months, a special tourism route was launched, billboard adverts were placed in major Shanghai and Beijing subway stations, and special television programs and newspaper columns introduced aspects of life in the United Kingdom and its culture.

"China is regarded as one of the most important markets for attracting visitors to the UK," said Bonnie Hua, who works in VisitBritain's China office alongside five other colleagues.

Globally, VisitBritain forecasts that the UK will attract 30.7 million visitors this year, spending 17.6 billion pounds ($27 billion) in the process.

Although this amount is less than the 17.9 billion pounds visitors spent in the UK last year, VisitBritain Chief Executive Sandie Dawe said it is still a "good outcome" given the current global economic climate.

A survey VisitBritain conducted in 2006-07 showed that 22 percent of people globally would be more likely to visit the UK because of the Olympics.

China ranked fifth-highest with 39 percent, after Mexico, Indonesia, India and Malaysia, making the work of Hua's team crucially important.

"This year is special for the UK, because we have the Olympics, the London 2012 Festival, and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. But we're also marketing them in a way that would appeal to a Chinese audience," she said.

Hua's team has launched a micro blog on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese micro-blogging website, with a competition related to VisitBritain's poster campaign promoting Britain's heritage.

Hua's team asked commuters to take photos of these adverts in subway stations and upload them to the micro blog along with a slogan to match the advertisements.

"We received some very creative submissions, and the campaign has got the Chinese public thinking about what tourism in Britain really means," she said.

Hundreds of people took part in the competitions, with the winners receiving gifts made in Britain, including the Olympics mascot, souvenirs of the Diamond Jubilee and items from Shakespeare's birthplace museum's shop.

"For the Chinese tourists, the obvious British attraction is culture," said Hua.

As a result, her team used the culture, heritage and countryside versions of the campaign's poster collection most frequently in magazine, online and subway station advertisements.

Other key visuals in the campaign are shopping, sport, music and food.

To highlight aspects of Britain's royal and sporting culture among Chinese tourists, VisitBritain and the Chinese travel agency Lvmama together launched a special 11-day tour, which costs 21,500 yuan ($3,379).

To promote the initiative, VisitBritain has also chosen two Chinese goodwill ambassadors - Chinese Olympic rider Hua Tian and actress Li Bingbing.

Since May, Hua Tian has been writing weekly columns for the Shanghai Morning Post, introducing his life in the UK.

Li hosted five episodes of London Action, a cultural program on China Central Television, between February and March, introducing Britain's Olympic culture, heritage and music.

Just before the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, VisitBritain hosted a tea party where an actress looking like Queen Elizabeth shared afternoon tea with more than 100 Chinese guests at the Daning International Plaza in Shanghai.

The surprise visit brought Britain's festive spirit to China, with the regal look-alike followed on the streets of Shanghai by thousands of Chinese fans who thought she was the real thing.

VisitBritain plans to work with Chinese news portal Sina.com to offer Chinese visitors tax return advice in partnership with tax refund provider Global Blue, and publish blog posts on British culture written by a dedicated team of Chinese celebrity bloggers.

In August, the Shanghai Arts Channel will also broadcast a weekly television program focusing on the Cultural Olympiad - a series of arts programs inspired by the Olympics including films, exhibitions, live performances, music, and outdoor events.

"We hope the Chinese tourists will continue to visit Britain after the Olympics, so we will continue to introduce new surprises to the market to facilitate that," said Bonnie Hua.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn