While the UK was the first country in Europe to launch a tourism campaign abroad, it is increasingly apparent that it is taking a back seat with respect to the late comers into this trade who have been able to attract the neighboring tourists and also corner a majority of the long-term travelers from the West. The UK must welcome the visitors from the land of the rising sun and also inhale this wind of tourism related traffic which is blowing from the East to the West. More high class visitors from Japan will visit UK and make best use of the tourism amenities on offer through a sustained promotional campaign. Surveys have shown that very few of the travel and tourism brands are actually known to the common people. This must change.
The scores of overseas tourism offices provide direct linkages between the national tourist organizations and they inter alia are entrusted with the job of supplying information to the department about the current trends in tourism. An idea of the volume and nature of work done by the offices is evident from the annual statistics.
The inadequacy of these offices in certain parts of the globe is obvious from statistics that reveal fewer number of tourist arrivals from those places. Overseas tourism offices are primarily acting as distributing centers for publicity material prepared by the tourism department. They hardly have any direct links with the local markets to which they are intend to convey the message. The result is that the department of tourism does not get adequate information about the tastes and preferences of the potential visitors to the UK, the size of the tourism market and the future trends in the economy.
Some of the 4 Star Hotels in London have initiated and sustained the marketing campaigns often spending huge sums of money. The increasing occupancy rates in these hotels are due to this one aspect. Even during these times of recession, the international visitors continue to frequent these hotels when on a business or hobby trip to the UK. The approach taken to promote the amenities on offer is a novel one and it can be emulated elsewhere.
