VisitBritain has joined forces with American Airlines and
British Airways to launch a $3.7 million campaign aimed at inspiring more U.S.
visitors to book a trip to Britain.
The "British Famous" campaign, which kicked off on
Tuesday and is running throughout 2017, features British comedian Diane Morgan
in a series of four videos as she attempts to "make it" in America as
a self-help guru, an action star, a hipster foodie and a rock star, all while
promoting England, Scotland and Wales.
The first two videos, featuring Morgan as a self-help guru
in Wales and as a would-be rock star in Manchester, were released on Tuesday
and are intended to drive online traffic to the website BritishFamous.com,
which has been populated with destination content from VisitBritain as well as
with fares and offers from American Airlines and British Airways.
This is the first time that VisitBritain has partnered with
American Airlines on a marketing campaign of this scale. It is also the first
time VisitBritain, American Airlines and British Airways have all worked
together. They are each contributing $1.25 million to the campaign.
The U.S. is Britain's most valuable visitor market, worth
more than $3.7 billion annually to the U.K. economy, according to VisitBritain.
The destination marketing organization touted the great value that Britain
currently presents to U.S. travelers. At the end of February, Britain was 13%
cheaper for visitors from the U.S. than it was compared to the same month the
previous year, thanks to favorable exchange rates.
There were 2.7 million visits from the U.S. to Britain from
January to September 2016, up 3% from the same period a year earlier. Visitors
from the U.S. spent $3.1 billion in Britain from January to September 2016, a
9% increase.