Firstly, England’s Historic Cities consortium, which includes Cambridge, has secured a £1m investment from the Discover England Fund for an innovative new product entitled ‘The Collection’. This brings history to life through story-telling enhanced by augmented reality and will feature itineraries that link the cities by rail, making it easy to plan and book a multi-destination trip. Delivered through the historic cities app, it will act as a central point for local information that highlights places to eat and stay alongside trips, tours and travel options.
England’s Historic Cities is a partnership of destinations brought together by common product and interests. Membership comprises: Bath, Canterbury, Cambridge, Chester, Carlisle, Durham, Greenwich, Lancaster, Lincoln, Oxford, Salisbury and York.
Visit Cambridge Chief Executive, Emma Thornton said, “Heritage is a huge draw for US visitors to England. The Collection will enable Cambridge to share our amazing stories through cutting edge technology, and bring the city wider exposure to this important international market.”
In addition, Cambridge and twelve destination partners have also successfully bid for a £500,000 grant from VisitEngland in a collaborative project to develop a range of experiences directed at the US tourism market. ‘Connections’ will produce a series of new, immersive, bookable English-themed visitor experiences specifically for the American market, encouraging visitors to explore England beyond London. The experiences will aim to tap in to the fascination of the many connections between England and America - a shared history, language, culture and ancestry - in an effort to inspire many visitors to discover their roots and the authenticity of local English culture.
A large-scale collaboration between 13 destinations, Connections will develop tourism products in the lead up to 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s historic voyage from Plymouth to the New World. Cambridge, along with Bristol, Cornwall, Essex, Gloucester, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Plymouth, Torbay and Worcestershire, will look into themes with significant appeal to US visitors, such as Magna Carta and the rule of law, The Mayflower, Virginia and early American colonisation, WW2, US military and the ‘special relationship’.
Emma Thornton said: “The Cambridge area is rich in American history and this is a great opportunity to further extend our reach, with the American market in mind. Cambridgeshire played host to a huge number of American Airmen in WWII, many stationed at airfields around Cambridge. In every village, town and city in Cambridgeshire there’s a story to share about this important time.”
The project also aims to showcase the best of England’s culture and heritage through the development of a broad range of specialist guided tours and behind the scenes experiences, and will be sold in the US via tour operators and travel agents. Visit Cambridge has been asked to lead on the guided tour element of the US Connections project across all of the partner destinations.
Emma Thornton said: “Guided Tours are a key part of the Visit Cambridge and Beyond business so we are well placed to lead on this part of the project. We deliver tours for around 80,000 people a year and our official Blue Badge guides bring the city to life as they explain its history and heritage and tell tales of its quirky traditions. We are very excited at this opportunity to lead the development of existing and new innovative tour products across all of the partner destinations.”
There were 2.9 million overseas visits to the UK from January to July this year from North America alone, an increase of 21% on the same period last year.
Both projects will be funded through the UK Government’s £40 million Discover England Fund. The Fund is administered by VisitEngland and involves a programme of activity to ensure that England stays competitive in the rapidly growing global tourism industry. The Fund is a central government funded programme of activity, supported by match funding by partners in the public and private sectors.
VisitEngland Chief Executive, Sally Balcombe, said: “The calibre of submissions to the Discover England Fund reflects the innovation in product development thriving across the country’s tourism landscape. The successful projects will boost international and domestic visitor growth, creating a step-change in the industry and spreading the economic benefits of tourism across England. Our research shows that many US visitors come to Britain due to historic family connections and these ancestry-themed itineraries will inspire them to explore more of regional England.”
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About Visit Cambridge and Beyond
Visit Cambridge and Beyond is the official tourism service for Cambridge and the surrounding areas, responsible for marketing Cambridge to domestic UK and established European and other international markets and for showcasing the best that Cambridge has to offer.
For further information see www.visitcambridge.org.
About the Discover England Fund
In November 2015, the Government announced a £40 million Discover England Fund; an unprecedented opportunity for English tourism. The Fund aims to deliver world-class bookable tourism products joined up across geographies and/or themes; including integrated transport solutions to provide an end-to-end customer experience. The Fund supports the growth of one of England’s most successful export industries, inbound tourism. Tourism is an industry that delivers jobs and economic growth across the English regions – contributing some £106bn each year to the economy and supporting 2.6 million jobs.
For more information see www.visitbritain.org/discover-england-fund
About VisitBritain/VisitEngland
VisitBritain/VisitEngland is the national tourism agency – a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Working with a wide range of partners in both the UK and overseas, our mission is to grow the volume and value of inbound tourism across the nations and regions of Britain and to develop world-class English tourism product to support our growth aspirations.
For further information and to access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics visit www.visitbritain.org or www.visitbritain.com and www.visitengland.com for consumer informatio