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

We are keen to work with selected tour operators/wholesalers as ‘Official Tour Operators’. This entitles you to access the wider Great West Way Ambassador Network including unique supplier products, our expertise and support to help develop programmes, plus use of the Great West Way marque (in line with brand guidelines), in exchange for creating bookable Great West Way packages.

If you would like to become a Great West Way ‘Official Tour Operator’ enabling you to access the network of suppliers plus use the Great West Way® visual identity, images, maps, video, be eligible for fam/educational visits etc. please contact Flo. We are interested to know details of how you are planning on developing and selling the Great West Way, your deadlines for printing/launching your 2019 programme and details of your itineraries.

Great West Way Trade Content

Our travel trade toolkit will be finalised and launched in autumn 2018. The brand guidelines are in the process of being finalised and will be avilable shortly.

Meanwhile, the following information is available at this time.

• Presentation with Wiltshire product information links- 2018 and Beyond: It’s Time for Wiltshire and Great West Way
• England’s Great West Way Presentation.
• Draft Itineraries:
  • The England of your imagination – available within the brand booklet.
  • Food and Drink and further ones include Houses and Gardens, History and Heritage are currently being developed.
• Great West Way Brand Booklet – a introductory guide for businesses. Narrative may be useful.

To obtain further information www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/greatwestway

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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 itineraries. If you wish to meet at anyof the following please contact Flo.

5-7 November 2018 - World Travel Market, London Excel, UK
9-13 January 2019 - Vakantiebeurs, Utrecht, Netherlands
8-10 March 2019 - ITB, Berlin, Germany

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Travel Trade Activity

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:

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
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.

The first ever Great West Way educational familiarisation visit attended by 11 German tour operators, 2 Austrian tour operators and 2 members of staff from VisitBritain Germany took place 26-28 February.

A leading FIT operator from the USA, Tenon Tours, visited Wiltshire and the Great West Way, 16-20 March. 

We looking forward to welcoming further tour operators/sales teams wishing to familiarise themselves with the route in order to sell new tours for 2019 and beyond. For further infromation please contact Flo.