Press Release 5 November 2018
England's Great West Way is Officially Open
A new bookable, multi-modal touring route from London to Bristol, designed to bring more tourism to the region, has been declared open
The Great West Way is declared officially open today, 5 November at the world’s biggest travel trade show, World Travel Market.
Funded by the UK Government’s Discover England Fund, this new bookable touring route encompasses a 500-mile network of road, rail, river, canal and paths from London to Bristol and has been brought to market by over 300 local tourism businesses and 23 Official Tour Operators.
Great West Way Director, David Andrews said:
“As well as joining up many of England’s most iconic attractions, including Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath’s Roman Baths, the Great West Way also enables and encourages visitors to venture off the beaten track, explore more of the region and stay longer.
“As a multi-modal touring route, the first of its kind, the Great West Way offers a wealth of bookable itineraries that will attract a multitude of tourists from around the world and across the UK, so working closely with the travel trade is vital to maximize the potential this project has for bringing new visitors to our part of the world.”
The extensive travel trade outreach programme, includes:
- A Great West Way Ambassador Network Scheme, which invites destinations and businesses along the route to invest and collaborate in the project in exchange for a presence across all platforms and promotional activity. Over 160 Ambassadors to date have signed up, including National Trust, Bristol Airport and Great Western Railway, whose support will contribute to the success and connectivity of the route.
- A Great West Way Official Tour Operator Scheme, which has 30 members to date, including key UK DMCs plus USA, Canadian, German and Dutch tour operators, all committed to selling a range of themed tours and itineraries along the Great West Way
- A Great West Way Travel Trade Directory which lists over 300 tourism businesses along the route and has been specifically designed to highlight bookable trade product, including suggested itineraries
Great West Way Head of Travel Trade, Florence Wallace, said:
“The Great West Way has had a fantastic response from the travel trade so far, but our outreach continues. On 23 November, we will host our Marketplace networking event to bring suppliers and buyers together and we will have a presence at the trade shows in our key markets of Germany, the Netherlands and USA, with stand-sharing opportunities for our partners. We have also launched our extensive Travel Trade Directory and in Spring 2019 the route will host a global press invasion. It’s not too late to get involved in this exciting project.”
For more information on Great West Way, visit GreatWestWay.co.uk/TravelTrade or visit the UKInbound stand UKi400 (pods 54 and 55). On Monday 5 November stand sharers include the Official Airport Ambassador ‘Bristol Airport’, the new ‘Langley Hotel’ a luxury boutique hotel with a rich history in South Buckinghamshire and the iconic Royal Crescent in Bath.
Ends
For further information or to arrange a press visit please contact Rebecca Lowe, Head of PR, rebeccalowe@GreatWestWay.co.uk Tel: 07444 601421
Note to editors:
About the Great West Way
The Great West Way is one of a number of successful projects to receive funding from the UK Government’s £40 million Discover England Fund, administered by VisitEngland. VisitWiltshire are the Destination Organisation leading the project. For further information go to discoverenglandfund.org
Further information and link to The Story of the Great West Way booklet, a guide for businesses and destinations, is available at visitwiltshire.co.uk/GreatWestWay
The Great West Way Ambassador Network gives access to a wide range of additional Great West Way consumer, travel trade and media marketing activity; connecting businesses and destinations along the route
Great West Way and England’s Great West Way are registered trademarks. Please always use the appropriate symbol (®) on the first reference to indicate that GREAT WEST WAY® is a registered trade mark.
For further information on or to join the Great West Way Ambassador Network please contact Claire Margetts, Head of Ambassador Network, ClaireMargetts@GreatWestWay.co.uk Tel: 07850 080679
For further information or to find out more about becoming an Official Tour Operator please contat Florence Wallace, Head of Travel Trade, FloWallace@GreatWestWay.co.uk Tel: 01722 341309 or 07436 588860
About VisitBritain/VisitEngland
VisitBritain/VisitEngland is the national tourism agency – a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)
Working with a wide range of partners in both the UK and overseas, our mission is to grow the volume and value of inbound tourism across the nations and regions of Britain and to develop world-class English tourism product to support our growth aspirations. For further information and to access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics visit www.visitbritain.org or www.visitbritain.com and www.visitengland.com for consumer information.
About Discover England Fund
In November 2015, the Government announced a £40 million Discover England Fund; an unprecedented opportunity for English tourism. The Fund aims to deliver world-class bookable tourism products joined up across geographies and/or themes; including integrated transport solutions to provide an end-to-end customer experience.
The Fund supports the growth of one of England’s most successful export industries, inbound tourism. Tourism is an industry that delivers jobs and economic growth across the English regions – contributing some £106bn each year to the economy and supporting 2.6 million jobs.
The Fund supported a number of pilot projects in year one (2016/17) that tested product development approaches. In years two and three, 2017-19, the fund will support:
- A number of large-scale collaborative projects to be delivered over the two-year period 2017-2019 that will create a step-change in bookable English tourism product for international consumers,
- 2 rounds of smaller funding for piloting new ideas (in year two), and delivering on new themes/ target markets (in year 3)
- There have also been opportunities for existing smaller projects to receive support in each following year to upscale their activities