Group Campaigns - Tourism North East

One NorthEast Tourism Group Travel Campaigns

Group travel campaigns

As with overseas marketing, many businesses don't have the contacts or the budget to promote themselves to travel trade (group) operators. One NorthEast Tourism makes these contacts on your behalf, travelling to exhibitions, events and meetings to make more operators than ever aware of the hidden gems in North East England.

If you think your business may be well suited for group travel, luxury group travel or cruise travel, then get in contact with our Tourism Marketing unit.

Group travel

The Travel Trade team are the first point of contact for incoming group travel organisers, coach and tour operators and teachers, or indeed any tour planner involved in organising group visits to the region. They are also responsible for developing new contacts and designing and delivering group travel campaigns and group travel marketing materials.

Group travel materials

There are four main tools for providing interested operators with the inspiration, information and materials they need to create fantastic packages and itineraries. They are:

www.groupsnortheastengland.com - launched in December 2007 this is the North East's first website devoted just to group travel and group travel operators. It features hotels, attractions, events, itineraries, Blue Badge guides and support services and provides tools for mapping travel routes, route and mileage planning and parking. It is promoted to the 11,000 group and coach operators in the UK and the many thousands in our key international markets.
Group Travel Guide 2008 - launched in November 2007 this is the definitive off-line planning tool for group operators. It has its own dedicated media campaign and is distributed to 4,000 key operators.
Hidden Benefits Incentive Booklet - This fantastic incentive resource is packed with discounts, offers and tasters ranging from free guided tours to top attractions to complimentary glasses of wine for all pre-booked groups. Not only does it provide the cherry-on-the-top that can tip operators into arranging group visits, but it is an intriguing way to showcase further many of the excellent attractions, hotels and food establishments the North East has to offer.
Tailored to Suit Itinerary Packs 2008 - This popular pack contains a selection of 13 themed itinerary suggestions - Tailored to Suit itineraries - designed to help tour planners plan their next trip to North East England. Themes include grand houses and gardens, history and heritage, coast and countryside, city life and retail therapy. Full details of the itineraries feature in the packs can be seen on www.groupsnortheastengland.com.

Group travel promotional activity

All the above materials are widely promoted through dedicated group travel marketing. This includes:

PR
Media advertising
Direct mail
Travel trade exhibitions - including the British Travel Trade Fair (BTTF) which is a world-class annual event held at in London each year and Great Days Out which is the largest annual event for single-day operators
Roadshows and workshops - each your One NorthEast Tourism hosts up to three roadshows or a single flag-ship showcase event (December 07's event was at Kensinton Palace in London)
UK & overseas familiarisation visits - each year One NorthEast invites tour operators and coach operators to experience our region first hand and to discover the fantastic attractions, hotels, routes and packages for themselves.
Points North Newsletters - Points North is a twice yearly newsletter sent to support the Group Travel Guide and update the trade on what's new in group travel for North East England. Each newsletter is theme-led, building on the known motivations for group travel and helping to make the group operators job easier by providing ideas, itineraries and contacts.

Luxury group travel

Over the last three years research described a consensus of opinion that the luxury sector is set for a period of growth. 17% of operators already operate in this market and 43% of operators in the budget/mid market sectors plan to organise up-market trips in the future. 40% of luxury operators expect to increase the number of luxury trips they organise in the next three years.

In line with these findings One NorthEast Tourism has been working with luxury group travel operators and with 30 of the region's attractions and hotels identified as being iconic or premier to meet this growth market's needs.

Luxury group travel guide

The luxury group travel guide - a high class production featuring those 30 premier providers - forms the centrepiece of North East England's campaign to attract the growing luxury group travel sector. In line with research undertaken in October 2006, the guide features connoisseur VIP experiences at some of the region's most celebrated attractions and hotels.

Luxury group travel microsite

Located as a microsite within the main group travel website at www.groupsnortheastengland.com/luxury these pages are dedicated to providers of luxury group travel. They provide inspiration, information, ideas and itineraries and carry full details of the featured premier providers.

Luxury group travel promotional activity

The guide and microsite were introduced to the trade at the North East England Showcase and Luxury Group Travel launch, held at Kensington Palace on the 13th December 2007. The event was attended by 80 organisations and more than 120 tour buyers. It is supported by a dedicated, targeted advertising campaign.

Cruise Tourism

The Port of Tyne, with its newly refurbished £6.5 million Tyne Commission Quay, is a huge asset to our region, but the potential for visitors to the region wasn't being fully realised. In 2004, an independent study confirmed the huge opportunities and benefits of developing cruise tourism for North East England, highlighting its potential to provide an additional 100 jobs and a further £6.5 million for the regional economy. In 2006 a three year North East England Cruise Tourism Action Plan was launched. Working in partnership with the Port of Tyne Authority and other key tourism partners One NorthEast Tourism have been striving to put North East England firmly on the map as a serious cruise destination - with considerable success. From the nineteen ships that visited in 2005 there are now twenty-eight provisionally booked for 2008, and, at the end of 2007, North East England's position as a world-class cruise destination was confirmed with the landmark visit of the QEII, one of her last ports of call on the way to her final resting place in Dubai. Her visit - a major accomplishment and a huge endorsement for the region and the Port of Tyne - was celebrated with a £170,000 Welcome Celebration, a glittering festival with an hypnotic musical performance and a fantastic pyrotechnical display.

Cruise NorthEast England website

www.cruisenortheastengland.com promotes North East England as a new and exciting destination for cruise tourism. The website primarily targets ground handlers and cruise line executives to raise awareness of what the region has to offer cruise passengers. A range of iconic itineraries, with exclusive behind the scene experiences, have been created.

Cruise Tourism promotional activity

Cruise tourism is highly valuable - each time a ship calls in, between 1,700 and 2,500 high spending passengers are received by ground handlers and tour organisers who provide them with high quality attraction, shopping and cultural excursions. A cruise training program has been developed to gear businesses up for operating in this important niche and additional blue badge guide have been trained to provide the right level of support to these beneficial visitors.

Direct mail, exhibitions, familiarisation visits, conventions and trade missions are all used to develop one-to-one relationships with specific cruise lines and operators. A range of high quality marketing materials has been produced, together with specific luxury cruise itineraries, to bring visitors to the best that the region has to offer. One NorthEast Tourism is building a product bank of exclusive experiences offered by appropriate tourism businesses and provides a tailor-made itinerary planning service for individual cruise lines and ground handlers. Since Germany is a key market, cruise marketing materials have been translated into German. A highly successful trade mission to Germany in October 2006 targeted key German cruise companies. As a direct result of this visit the German cruise liner Delphin Voyager has booked to visit in August 2008.

In 2007 One NorthEast Tourism jointly exhibited with the Port of Tyne at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg, Europe's leading cruise convention. This year will be the third visit to Miami where One NorthEast and the Port of Tyne will be jointly exhibiting at the world's largest cruise meeting, the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention. As well as directly maintaining current relationships, One NorthEast will be making new contacts and pursuing, in person, existing interest.

A variety of Cruise Tourism Marketing opportunities will be available later in 2008 for Iconic and Premier Attractions, Theatres, Restaurants, Hotels, Retail, Transport operators and Blue Badge Guides to maximise the benefits of Cruise Tourism. For Further information please contact: joanne.hamill@onenortheast.co.uk