US Market key, says VisitBritain
Coinciding with the visit of President Barack Obama to the UK, VisitBritain has released figures about the inbound USA travel market.
Nearly 2.7 million US residents visited the UK in 2010, down from a high of 4.1 million in 2000.
Despite this, the USA is still easily the most valuable inbound market for the UK, as US travellers spent £2.1bn in 2010 – almost double that of the Germans who come in at second place.
Travellers from the US now rank third in terms of arrivals; however European destinations and up-can-coming cheap holiday destinations in Asia are increasingly competing with the UK’s share of the US travel market.
VistBritain has put recapturing this market as its top priority, and intends to take advantage of the Royal Wedding, next year’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics as part of their 4-year £100m marketing campaign.
Early 2011 feedback from the US has been positive, according to VisitBritain’s travel industry panels stateside, with an increase in bookings and higher capacity on flight routes to the UK.
Director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain, Patricia Yates, said: ‘The challenge now is to rebuild visitor numbers to the high point of 2000.
‘While just 33% of the US population have a passport, Americans who come to Britain once, tend to come again - over half of US holiday visitors to the UK are repeat visitors.
‘We know that perceptions of Britain are consistently strong – we need to change those positive perceptions into a trip here.’
Fortunately for the UK, perceptions of ‘Brand Britain’ are consistently positive among potential American visitors, ranking Britain 6th out of 50 on ‘Tourism’ dimensions.
‘Logistical dynamics’ are cited as barriers to travel for US residents, say VistBritain, including considerations such as not having a passport, a lack of annual leave, financial concerns and not wanting to fly long distances.
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