Bath is to be promoted to tour operators from across the world at a series of high-profile travel industry events this autumn as the city’s tourism and hospitality industries look to finally put the damage caused by the pandemic behind them.
Among the key themes to be promoted by tourism bosses will be Austen250 – next year’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of novelist Jane Austen’s birth, including festivities in Bath – along with the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will stage some matches in Bristol.
They will also promote Bath’s celebrated and varied attractions, tours and experiences as well as its wide range of places to eat, drink and stay.
Earlier this year Visit West, the region’s destination marketing organisation behind the Visit Bath website – one of the UK’s most successful consumer tourism sites – published research putting the value of tourism to the West of England at £2.13bn, with the sector employing around 41,000 people.
While these show it has almost fully recovered from the impact of Covid-19, with the contribution to the regional economy now 91.5% of its pre-pandemic 2019 figure, overall visitor numbers are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until next year.
To showcase Bath’s unique tourist offering, Visit West will be promoting the city at a series of networking events and one-to-one meetings in three cities in Australia with the aim of capitalising on this growing market.
Figures from 2022 show that Australian visitors to the UK on an average stay for 17 days, against the eight for tourists from other countries, and typically spend £1,547 – more than double the global average.
In summer last year the number of Australian visitors to the UK hit its highest ever number.
Visit West will also attend the two-day Great West Way Marketplace next month, including a day networking with tour operators at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
Bath forms an integral part of the Great West Way – a touring route between London and Bristol that encourages visitors to slow down and explore the region.
Other events where Bath will be promoted include this month’s annual UK InBound Annual Conference, staged this year in Liverpool, and the World Travel Market in November in London, where more than 50,000 industry professionals will gather.
The Visit West team will also take part in Destination Middle East MEA (Middle East and Asia), a new event linking up travel buyers from the Middle East, Japan, China, India and South Korea with destinations, attractions, hotel groups and tour operators from the UK.
The event is being held in Bengarulu (also known as Bangalore), the capital of India's southern Karnataka state in November.
Visit West will also be hosting a familiarisation trip of eight luxury buyers from the Bengaluru area later this month.
