Coffee culture, nostalgia and Liverpool FC – the curious ways Britain is sold to the world
“When people think about Britain, everyone thinks they know what it is all about – Buckingham Palace, the Queen, red letter boxes, so [they think] we’ll go one day,” says Clare Mullin, the person in charge of marketing Britain to the world. “Our job is to get people to come here sooner.”
Last year, more people visited Britain than ever before (more specifically, people made more visits than ever: 39.2 million), and they spent a staggering ￡24.5 billion. Visit Britain, the public tourism body of which Mullin is marketing director, has for 2018 targeted more people spending more money – 40.9 million visits and ￡26.3 billion, to be precise.
“We are on loads of peoples’ bucket lists, and that’s not a problem, but we want people to come now,” she says. “In the past Britain used to be marketed in a much more kind of ‘we’re going to tell the world what we think is great about Britain’. And we’ve turned that on its head and are talking to people in a more authentic way about what they are interested in.”
It is this approach, Mullin says, that has led to showcasing Britain on a market-by-market basis, according to what may most likely attract, say, the Chinese, the Americans or the Australians.
This week VisitBritain released exclusively to Telegraph Travel its latest images and videos as part of its “I Travel For” campaign. In it, the tourist board is playing to what it knows other nationalities like about this sceptred isle: Germans appreciate the outdoors, the Chinese want classic London – but with a twist, and Australians are seeking Britain’s trendy coffee culture.
“In a lot of destinations, their key attraction might be the beaches, or the history, the heritage, but we have this really broad appeal, great cities, countryside, London, history and palaces, which is both our wonder and our challenge,” says Mullin. “So we work at a market level to try to understand who are the people most likely to come to the UK and why.”
Mullin says VisitBritain’s primary focus is naturally its biggest markets - China, the US, Germany, France, the Gulf nations, India - but then there secondary markets to consider, too, such as Brazil and South Korea. There is no country, it says, that is a lost cause in terms of inbound tourism.
“One perception of Britain is that it is a museum of things to see one day – Britain is never changing,” says Mullin. “That is what we are fighting against. Britain is a place to see now. It’s authentic. It’s real.”
According to research by VisitBritain, the UK sits at a crossroads in terms of identity, no more modern than it is traditional, no more rural than urban. It it this perception that fuels its drive that the UK, despite strong national characteristics, can be anything it wants to anyone.
That said, Britain does not pretend to be a different place to different people. “In terms of how we portray Britain,” says Mullin, “we want to maintain some consistency, and that consistency is in the way that we tell our stories, and that we want to put people first, and have energy and experiences in what we are communicating.
“We don’t want to move away from our amazing icons, but we want to show it as them, plus... or them in a different way.”
The five spheres in which Britain sells itself
Countryside and coast
History
Food and drink
Cool cities
Festivals and events
Within those categories, it is about showcasing a side of Britain that might surprise visitors –that you can take an alpaca for a walk in the Lakes, kayak under Tower Bridge or watch hot air balloons take off in Bristol.
“Young people want stuff they can brag about and share,” says Mullin of a travel trend that has led the tourist board to use more and more user-generated content that works well on social media. “The range of our experiences in our little island - from the countryside and coast to the city - that is our opportunity.”
Who in the world likes what about Britain?
Australia
Both Australians and Kiwis love coffee culture, which is why VisitBritain chose to advertise there the image below of London Grind in London Bridge.
India
“In India our weather is seen as an advantage,” says Mullin. According to VisitBritain research, those in India are much more likely than average to believe that a holiday in Britain would be “romantic” and “relaxing”.
The Gulf nations
Visitors from Arab states enjoy British landscapes and outdoor activity. “They don’t want beautiful sunshine,” says Mullin, “they want a more atmospheric experience”, which is why VisitBritain showcases the Lakes in their adverts there.
Germany
Germans are likely to have been to Britain more than once, and therefore want to get out of London and explore more of the UK. Many bring the car on the ferry. The success of stories by author Rosamunde Pilcher, as shown on the ZDF TV station, set and filmed in the south-west, attract Germans more than other nationalities to Devon and Cornwall.
China
The Chinese are more interested in Britain’s urban appeal than the countryside, with London a key destination. They do, however, want to experience the city in a different way. “For example, they might love the red London bus, but they want to have a quirky afternoon tea on one of them,” says Mullin. The Chinese, according to the tourist board’s research, expect a trip to Britain to be “spiritual” or “romantic”.
Brazil
“Brazilians are really interested in Liverpool Football Club,” says Mullin.
Japan
Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s 17th-century house in the Lake District, is a popular attraction for Japanese tourists, who are particularly fond of the author’s Peter Rabbit works. According to Visit Britain, the Japanese see Britain as the best destination for “revisiting places of nostalgic importance”.
