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 SAR 5,200,000 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.
Saudi Arabia is the UK’s 34th largest inbound visitor market and 13th most valuable in terms of visitor spending. In 2019 there were 221,000 visits from Saudi Arabia to the UK, with those visitors spending £627 million on their trips.
Spending in the UK by visitors from Saudi Arabia was forecasted to reach 2019 levels within 2022, 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.
