CorpComms Magazine

A social media campaign that encourages Brits to invite friends from around the globe to visit the UK this year has been launched by British tourism agency VisitBritain.

The campaign's aim is to increase the number of annual visits to Britain from international friends and relatives, which currently contributes up to £3.6 billion annually to the economy.

According to VisitBritain, visiting friends and relatives are most likely to come from Ireland, France and North America. The research also found that, on average, Australians spend the most per visit at more than £800. Canadians are the next biggest spenders, splashing out more than £500 per visit.

The 'Share Your GREAT Britain' campaign comes in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and it includes a social media 'toolkit' that allows users to create personalised greetings cards for their friends and family abroad.

The campaign also includes a '10 GREAT Reasons' to visit Britain Facebook app, which is featured on VisitBritain's 'LoveUK' Facebook page.

Users can download a personalised greeting to tempt their friends to come to Britain, from: visitbritain.org

Receivers of the invitations will be entered into a prize draw, with the chance of winning two return flight tickets to Britain. And those who send the invites will also be entered into a draw to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Sandie Dawe, chief executive of VisitBritain, said: 'Our goal is to deliver four million visitors over four years who will spend an additional £2 billion... 2012 is the year to be in Britain, with a raft of new festivals, exhibitions and events marking the Diamond Jubilee, celebrations of Shakespeare and Dickens and the hosting of the Olympic Games.'

She added: 'The Visiting Friends and Relations market is large, resilient and offers huge potential for each region in UK across the whole of the year, so the more people that get involved in the 'Share Your GREAT Britain' campaign, the greater the impact can be for the whole country.'

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet