Competing for visitors from China and encouraging them to explore more of Britain through regional gateways, driving growth from tourism across the nations and regions, are top of the agenda as VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates visits Beijing and Shanghai this week.

In a press statement, VisitBritain, the tourism promotion organisaton of Great Britain, says that as part of Yates’ agenda, tourism’s importance in building cultural connections and positioning Britain in China as a welcoming, vibrant, culturally diverse destination that people want to visit, is also in the spotlight.

The statement adds that during the visit from October 21-25, VisitBritain will host a trade workshop in Shanghai for 35 top Chinese travel buyers, in partnership with Tourism Ireland and supported by British Airways, building destination knowledge and showcasing premium travel products, getting those on the itineraries of future visitors to drive bookings from China across the nations and regions.

The tourism promotion organisation adds that discussions with leading trade and industry in China, including Trip.com, will review the motivations driving outbound travel from China, and trends in digital tools and booking platforms to compete for higher spending visitors. These will be supported by interviews with Chinese media on Britain’s regional tourism offer and the great reasons to book a trip right now.

“China is a very important visitor market for Britain, forecast to return as our fifth most valuable this year, worth an estimated £1.5 billion to our economy in visitor spending. Our work with the travel trade in China is crucial to boosting product and destination knowledge and I am looking forward to hearing from industry on how we can work together to ensure Britain is competing for Chinese visitors,’’ says Yates.

Patricia Yates

“The growing direct airline routes from China into regional gateways including Manchester are fantastic opportunities to encourage Chinese visitors to explore beyond London. Working with leading travel trade and media from China and UK Government partners we are promoting messages of warm welcome and showcasing our regional tourism offer, broadening travel itineraries to drive visitor spending into more local economies across Britain,” Yates adds.

According to the statement, the visit also comes as VisitBritain gets set to roll out its international Starring GREAT Britain campaign. VisitBritain says that launching early 2025 the campaign is using the powerful draw of film and television locations and places seen-on-screen with Britain’s regional destinations the star of the show, inspiring more visitors from China to choose Britain, discover more and stay longer.

The statement says that latest research by VisitBritain shows that among Chinese travellers considering visiting the UK, 96 pc are interested in visiting film and television locations during their trip.

In recent weeks VisitBritain has been supporting a series of film-and-television-inspired trips for journalists and digital influencers from China, taking in experiences from a Bridgerton-themed walking tour in Bath to touring Manchester’s film locations used in productions from Captain America to The Crown. The trips have covered set-jetting destinations and attractions across Britain from London to Birmingham, Bath to Manchester, Oxford to Hertfordshire and the Peak District, Cardiff in Wales to Edinburgh in Scotland.

The statement adds that to inspire visits from China through regional gateways the educational visits have been supported by industry including Juneyao Air, who launched direct flights in July this year from Shanghai to Manchester and Langham Hospitality Group. And VisitBritain also worked with telecoms company CMLink with the content generated reaching millions of users on China’s social media platform RedBook.

VisitBritain’s latest forecasts show visits from China to the United Kingdom are continuing to build back. It estimates 647,000 visits from China to the United Kingdom this year, up 76 pc on 2023. VisitBritain expects visits from China to the UK, and visitor spending, to return to 2019 levels in 2025.