Knowledge on tap: VisitEngland promotes pubs as tourist information centres
LONDON - VisitEngland, the marketing body responsible for English tourism, is mounting a campaign to promote public houses as unofficial tourist information centres.
The campaign, entitled Inn England, is being launched with the aim of helping struggling pubs to diversify into additional tourism services and become an integral part of short-break holidays in England.
VisitEngland wants pub landlords to position their businesses as the starting point for any visit to an area, rather than purely focusing on the needs of locals.
The tourism body has created a microsite, www.enjoyengland.com/innengland, to target both pub landlords and tourists. Pubs and inns will be searchable by categories such as family-friendliness and historical interest. The site will include an interactive forum where consumers can recommend their favourite pubs.
‘Pubs are a key part of England's brand, our history and way of life,' says Amanda Smyth, head of marketing at VisitEngland. ‘Inn England will remind people of the unique place that the English pub holds in our history and our communities. We hope this idea will galvanise pub landlords all over England to think outside the box about other ways that they can work with their local community to attract more business.'
The British Beer & Pub Association claims that around 39 pubs are forced to close down each week, with an estimated 20,000 pub workers losing their jobs over the past 12 months.
Inn England is the latest in a number of initiatives rolled out by VisitEngland, which officially launched on 1 April. Earlier this month, it launched a £3m TV campaign called ‘Enjoy Every Minute' to convince consumers they can enjoy English attractions no matter how little time they have available.
VisitEngland recently appointed James Berresford as its first chief executive.
Comments
sue turner - 27/05/2009
Great! A whole new world of opportunities for A-Z, OS, Rough Trade, and anyone one else in the 'guide' business. Suggest tie-in between Greene-King and Visit Britain, to produce information-based beer bar towels that they actively encourage people to nick. Greene King could major on local connections to Kings and Queens, natch. Tetleys, John Smiths and Boddingtons, industrial heritage and so on. But there's a BIG communication and operational flaw in the plan. It's hard enough getting to use the loo in any pub without encountering a 'toilets for customers only' sign. Can we expect similar clipart creations for information?