Blockbuster films star in VisitBritain’s new global tourism campaign

Directed by Academy Award-winning British director Tom Hooper, the locations of Mission: Impossible, Bridget Jones, Spider-Man, Succession, Harry Potter and more take centre stage in a new blockbuster advertising campaign that sells Britain to five key markets including Australia. Arvind Hickman attended the UK launch for Travel Weekly.
National tourism agency VisitBritain has launched an epic tourism campaign that uses the locations of famous films and TV series to sell the UK to the rest of the world.
The campaign, ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, rolls out internationally this week with a four-minute-long launch film that showcases iconic film and TV moments from Mission: Impossible to Bridget Jones; Spider-Man to Succession; House of the Dragon to Harry Potter; Paddington to Fast & Furious to Mary Poppins Returns and more.
The film was first teased at VisitBritain’s annual showcase event at Hampton Court Palace, which hosted more than 120 international travel trade and media on educational visits around the country, including Travel Weekly.
VisitBritain global marketing director Robin Johnson told Travel Weekly there were two key insights into why VisitBritain wanted to use film as a lure to attract global travellers.
“One is the big global trend around film and TV being a big driver for travel. And you see that in every single country. So, whether it’s around White Lotus or Bridgerton or Harry Potter, you see film becoming an increasing driver of a reason for people to travel,” he said.
“That was then combined with another insight around the huge amount of creative production that’s now being done here in the UK around film and TV. It’s one of our most successful industries. At the moment, we are having billions of pounds being spent by all the major studios producing film and high end TV in this country. So we now have almost as much being done here as you have in California.
“So, bringing those two things together, we were trying to bring the real-life film sets to people around the world who were looking to film and TV for inspiration.”
Visit Britain has targeted its five key markets for inbound travellers for this campaign, including US, Australia, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, France and Germany.
VisitBritain’s screen tourism research shows that more than nine out of 10 potential visitors to the UK would be keen to visit film and TV locations during a trip. The success of the campaign will be measured by how much growth the tourism sector adds to the UK economy.
“For every one pound of public money that we spend, we aim to drive between £15 to £18 worth of incremental value into the economy,” Johnson said. “Although our brand is obviously important, ultimately we’re all about growth, about the economy and about distributing that across the country.”
Tourism Minister Sir Chris Bryant said that tourism industry is worth £74 billion (AU$147 billion) to the economy and this campaign would help grow it with the ultimate ambition of attracting 50 million annual visitors by 2023. Today about 38.5 million people visit the UK.
“Many of the moments that took your breath away in the cinema were filmed in the United Kingdom. Stunning scenery, amazing cityscapes and great cinematic talent have combined over the years in a truly exceptional way. We want visitors from home and abroad to experience them first-hand by immersing themselves in the scenery and locations made famous thanks to film and TV,” he said.
The first phase of the international advertising campaign runs until the end of March 2025 and is part of a longer-term screen tourism focus by VisitBritain.
As well as the launch film, the multimedia advertising campaign will run across a mix of channels to showcase destinations across England, Scotland and Wales as the backdrop to great stories, action and adventure.
This includes large digital billboards in locations from the famous Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, Germany, to Gare du Nord Station in Paris, France, from the City Walk hub in Dubai, UAE, to the Jeddah Corniche in Saudi Arabia, alongside branded content across social media.
The advertising also directs viewers to a screen-tourism hub on VisitBritain’s global consumer website with itineraries themed around film genres from romance to fantasy, action to adventure, encouraging visitors to broaden their itineraries, discover more regional destinations and stay longer.
A digital map links to film inspired locations, attractions and experiences across the nations and regions. To amplify the campaign and drive bookings, VisitBritain is working with partners including Expedia Group in Australia, France, Germany and the USA.
In February, marketing activity through VisitBritain’s GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund kicks off in Germany and the US to boost inbound visits through regional gateways.
Travel Weekly has been on a famil around London the Lake District and Liverpool over the past week.
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