Great West Way

England's Great West Way Travel Trade

VisitWiltshire is leading on developing a new touring route which will join up many of England’s iconic destinations and attractions along a corridor west of London through to Bristol, made possible by HM Government’s £40m Discover England Fund, administered by VisitEngland (www.discoverenglandfund.co.uk).

England’s Great West Way® project is focused on creating a world class tourism experience, winning new business and market share for Britain, growing the visitor economy and transforming the visitor experience along and around the route. The touring route will be suitable for visitors to travel by car, coach, rail, cycling, walking or by boat. A range of themed itineraries and trails, including heritage, food and drink, countryside, film tourism etc. will allow visitors to explore the route in depth and aims to rival any of the great touring routes in the world.

Offical Tour Operators

Become a Great West Way Official Tour Operator - package and sell new programmes to your customers. Benefits include:

1. Access to travel trade toolkit including new Travel Trade Directory with unique supplier contacts, bookable product and suggested itineraries etc.
2. Opportunity to adopt the brand positioning, imagery, video and key messaging
3. Use of the Great West Way® name and visual identity in line with brand guidelines and use of the marque
4. Bespoke on-territory training with full product immersion in education visits and meetings 
5. One to one support for itinerary planning
6. Partnership match funded marketing initiatives

If you would like to become a Great West Way ‘Official Tour Operator’ this is what you need to do:

1. Complete the sign-up form and return it to flowallace@greatwestway.co.uk
2. Develop your Great West Way programme and forward a copy to us. Please get in touch if you’d like help with this. You can use the following:
   • Travel Trade Toolkit
   • Travel Trade Directory
   • The Story of the Great West Way
   • Great West Way Brand Toolkit to ensure tone-of-voice, imagery and branding is in-line with the overall project messaging.

Once we have your signed form returned we will supply you with the Great West Way marque and give you access to our photo library. 

Please note that as per the trademark and licensing requirements we have for Great West Way® /England’s Great West Way® we must approve all programmes prior to print/going live online, in order to check usage of brand guidelines, geographic reference and messaging.

We are interested to know details of how you are developing and selling your Great West Way itineraries - please let us know how we can help!

Contact Flo for further information.

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Forthcoming Events & Exhibitions

We will be attending the following events and exhibitions and would welcome the opportunity to meet with tour operators/wholesalers who would like to find out more about the Great West Way Ambassador Network with a view to package and sell programmes. If you would like to arraange a meeting at any of these events please contact Flo.

Vakantiebeurs, Netherlands, 9-13 January
Excursions, London - 26 January
Britain & Ireland Marketplace (BIM), London - 29 January
UKInbound Convention, Glasgow - 6-8 February
South West Group Travel Show, Longleat - 16 February
ITB, Berlin – 5-10 March - stand share opportunity
Explore GB, Harrogate, Yorkshire 8-10 May

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Travel Trade Activity 2017/2018

Exhibitions and Events

A key focus for trade activity so far this year has been promoting the Great West Way at many key trade events. These events and meetings with trade intermediaries face to face are key to us winning domestic and travel trade business. Interest in the Great West Way has been phenomenal – and the trade are really keen to get involved and include our suggestions in their programmes. Recent events attended include:

2018
World Travel Market, London Excel, 5-7 November 2018
Destination Britain North America - Austin Texas 14 - 17 October followed by a USA Sales Mission to New York/New Jersey 18-19 October.
ITB, Berlin on Wednesday 7 – Friday 9 March 2018
Explore GB, Newcastle, Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March 2018
South West Group Travel Show, Bristol - Saturday 3 February 2018
Britain & Ireland Marketplace (BIM), London - Tuesday 30 January 2018
Excursions, London - Saturday 27 January 2018
Vakantiebeurs, Netherlands, Tuesday 9 January 2018

2017
Showcase South West in Bristol, 27 - 29 November 2017
World Travel Market in London on Monday 6 November 2017
VIBE (VisitBritain’s annual International Business Exchange) in London on Tuesday 10 October 2017 
Destination Britain North America in Los Angeles, 25 – 28 September 2017Since September we’ve told the Great West Way story to around 170 operators in the UK and overseas. Many are developing programmes for 2019.

Familiarisation Visits
The best way to get international visitors excited about the Great West Way is to educate the tour operators allowing them to experience it for themselves. We are running a number of fam visits for international and domestic tour operators. If you are interested to attend one please contact Flo.