VisitBritain Are So Much Better Than VisitWales

VisitBritain and VisitEngland proactively promote tourism businesses, engaging with providers and having a live booking system in place. This enables visitors to browse events that will enhance their stay and book their chosen products without leaving their platform. Standard practice you would have thought. Nope… VisitWales are years away from a live booking system, if ever they will get there, and VisitWales do not proactively promote events to visitors to Wales.

One has to ask the question ‘Why?’ And the answer is one of great management at VisitBritain and woeful management at VisitWales.

This is an email I received from VisitBritain a few days ago:

‘I hope you are well and you are having a good month so far!

We are reaching out to you to let you now that a new domestic National Lottery Days Out Campaign (NLDO) is kicking off on the 3nd July this year, and that your products listed on VisitBritain Shop have been selected to be part of this initiative.

Please see below our official comms:

The last NLDO campaign October 2021 - March 2022 was worth more than £6.3m to the tourism industry! 

https://www.visitbritain.org/days-out-campaign-boost-domestic-tourism-goes-live

VisitBritain are delighted to announce a new National Lottery Days Out campaign 2023, launching this Summer.

The new campaign that launches on 3 July 2023 will allow National Lottery ticket holders to receive £25 off the entrance of over 500 UK attractions, experiences and guided tours. 

Lottery ticket holders will be able to choose from any participating experience available on the VisitBritain Shop. They will enter their National Lottery serial number on our dedicated landing page to obtain their unique code to use on the shop and receive their discount.

This is fully sponsored by the National Lottery Days Out initiative in partnership with VisitBritain. It is important to note that your experience will not be discounted, the value of the £25 voucher will simply go against the standard retail price advertised on the site, and therefore the process for payments will remain as it is too.

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to drive sales

This campaign can help your brand to:

• Drive sales over early summer and beyond, with particular emphasis on visits taking place during Autumn half term up to January 2023.

• Reach up to two million National Lottery consumer database.

• Encourage returning visits to your experience(s)

• Increase ancillary spend at your business when customers have the opportunity to redeem their £25 against your venue(s)! 

Previous suppliers from the last NLDO campaign said:
“As Europe’s largest pleasure pier we connected to TXGB to help further promote Clacton Pier and what we have to offer customers all year round. Being able to easily connect to the VisitBritain Shop via TXGB has meant we could take part in the NLDO campaign and we are delighted that 70% of the campaign customers are new to Clacton Pier. The promotion has allowed us to successfully promote Clacton Pier, UK wide.”

Billy Ball; Pier Director

Key requirements to take part in this initiative

As a selected experiences for this initiative, we will tag your products currently on sale on the VisitBritain Shop; in return all we need from you is to:

• Ensure there is at least six months of live availability on your calendars from 3 July. The longer availability you share, the more choice the consumer has to use the vouchers beyond the peak Summer season (ideally up to January 2024 if you know your rates already).

• Have dates available to be booked throughout the week on the VisitBritain Shop.

• Make sure that your page is fully up to date on the VisitBritain Shop site – this includes copy details and images.

• Commit to regularly marketing this campaign to your existing consumer base. Encourage customers and social media followers to visit, or revisit, your business. This could mean bespoke emails, or regular social media posts (including those that show prices and savings).

Toolkit coming soon

Next week you will receive a NLDO toolkit which includes:

• Digital assets; 

• Examples of previous tourism business successes; 

• Logos; and 

• Guidance on how to maximise the uptake of the voucher scheme with your existing customers, alongside a suggested marketing plan.

We recommend you start planning now ready for the toolkit launch.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about the campaign please contact us on product@visitbritain.org.

We are delighted to be working with The National Lottery for a second year, and looking forward to work closely with you in order to maximise this opportunity!’