Visit Britain Hosts Showcase Britain 2025 – Preview of the Starring GREAT Britain Campaign

This week, Visit Britain, the national tourism agency, is hosting its annual buyer programme, Showcase Britain, with a special focus on screen tourism, which is a major focus for the agency this year. The Showcase Britain event comes on the back of research from Visit Britain which reveals that more than 9 out of 10 potential visitors to the UK are keen to visit a film or TV location during their trip.

2025 also sees the launch of the ‘Starring GREAT Britain,’ Visit Britain’s global screen tourism campaign, with more than 120 buyers from 17 international markets attending the Showcase Britain event at Hampton Court Palace. Attendees will be briefed on how film and TV can be a powerful motivator for tourism, including locations such as The Da Vinci Code’s enigmatic Rosslyn Chapel to Durham Cathedral, featured in films including Harry Potter, Avengers, and Alien 3, amongst many more.

The buyers at Showcase Britain will be welcomed by Tourism Minister Chris Bryant, together with VisitBritain’s Chairman Nick de Bois and CEO Patricia Yates. Delegates will be shown Visit Britain’s latest market research and insights, including around the power of screen tourism, along with presentations also from VisitEngland, London & Partners, VisitScotland, and Visit Wales.

VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates on what the international visitors will be experiencing at Showcase Britain: “From exploring our vibrant cities, world-class attractions, and stunning countryside, to enjoying our exciting contemporary culture and hospitality, international buyers will have a front-row seat experiencing firsthand why Britain is the real star of the show. I know that they will return home inspired to sell more British destinations this year.”

Starring GREAT Britain Campaign

A large part of the event this year and the briefing will focus on the main objective of 2025, Visit Britain’s ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign, which harnesses the growing global trend of using films and TV shows to motivate fans and wider tourists to see the many sites in the country connected to the world of the big and small screen. With the UK being one of the most popular destinations for filming movies and TV programmes in the world, VisitBritain has increasingly incorporated UK TV & film content into its global tourism offering. The 2025 campaign, however, is putting film and TV at the heart of their global push.

The ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign rolling out over 2025 aims to show a dynamic and diverse Britain, with big marketing and social media pushes over the coming year, including paid advertising in the major inbound markets of Australia, France, Germany, the Gulf, and the USA.

Educational Tour Seeing Film and TV Sites

The top travel trade from across Britain’s major inbound markets will also get a chance to see the real destinations at the heart of Britain’s films and TV-rich legacy, with tailored educational visits between three to five days visiting sites across England, Scotland, and Wales. They will also get a preview of the latest tourism products and experiences that will be sold in international markets and other travel trade resources available, including itineraries featuring trade-bookable products and film and TV-themed images available from Visit Britain’s asset library. These tailored visits have been developed by Visit Britain in partnership with Tourism Northern Ireland, VisitEngland, VisitScotland, and Visit Wales.

Ahead of the event, Tourism Minister Sir Chris Bryant welcoming the travel trade to Showcase Britain, said, “Thanks to our stunning scenery, heritage, and world-class screen industries, many of the unforgettable moments that have taken our breath away at the cinema were filmed in the UK.”

On the importance of this sector as a draw for the tourism industry, the minister added, “We want more visitors from home and abroad to immerse themselves in British destinations made famous thanks to film and TV, and events like this will help drive growth in our £74 billion tourism industry. Through our Plan for Change, we want to welcome 50 million international visitors a year by 2030, while creating opportunity in local communities and setting the scene for the UK’s thriving visitor economy for years to come.”

Deeper Dive Into Visit Britain’s Research

Further research from Visit Britain released as part of the ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ reveals that:

• London has the largest potential for screen tourism, drawing the most interest amongst UK visitors and considerers, with 87% of travellers that had visited a film or TV location when in the UK having done so in the capital.
• Whilst London dominates, film and TV still play a key role in motivating travel outside of London too, with 1 in 6 of those who have visited the UK for leisure being influenced by a film or TV location to travel outside of London, and almost 1 in 3 (30%) of all 18-54-year-olds that had visited a UK film/TV site outside of London during a trip.
• Early stage planning is heavily influenced by film and TV, with almost 1 in 4 UK travellers stating that film and TV locations would have some level of influence when choosing a UK leisure trip in the future, and for a further 1 in 6, it would be the main reason.
• The screen tourism trend resonates most strongly amongst the younger demographic, with those aged between 18-34 having a higher chance of visiting film or TV locations on a leisure trip to the UK.

Long Haul Leads the Way for Screen Tourism

One of the interesting observations from Visit Britain’s research is that film and TV locations have a stronger influencing factor amongst long-haul markets. However, that is not to say it is not a motivating factor for short-haul markets. Some key stats include:

• The Chinese market, according to Visit Britain’s research, was most likely to be influenced to travel outside of London and visit film locations, with 96% agreeing it had at least some influence in the decision to travel across the UK.
• Germans have the highest propensity to have visited a film/TV location outside of London. However, research suggests screen tourism does not play a significant role in influencing the decision to leave the capital. 1 in 2 agreed screen tourism had no influence in travelling regionally, the highest proportion of all panel markets.
• Indian, Brazilian, Japanese, and US tourists are more likely to travel outside of London when visiting a TV/film location, with the location of the film/TV site playing a significant part in the decision to travel outside the capital.

For a deeper dive into Visit Britain’s detailed research into Screen Tourism in the UK, visit https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/screen-tourism.

For more information on the ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign and for further announcements, visit https://www.visitbritain.org/starring-great-britain-campaign.