VisitEngland is all set to launch the next phase of its UK-wide campaign to boost domestic day trips and overnight breaks in the run-up to summer. The project comes in partnership with the tourism organisations of London, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The ‘Escape the Everyday’ campaign, which first launched in autumn 2020, highlights the quality destinations, visitor attractions and experiences on offer across the UK to build back demand for domestic breaks.

This next phase of the campaign ‘Escape the Everyday – Enjoy the UK this Summer,’ with the theme ‘reconnecting with people and places,’ has a focus on cities and city visitor attractions as well as regional gateways which have been particularly hard hit by the lack of international visitors and that rely on overseas visitors and their spending. The £5 million campaign will start across the tourism agency’s ‘own’ channels with a short video and branded content across social media with ‘on demand’ television advertising from May 25.

The paid multi-media campaigns will then begin as the summer season approaches in line with each country’s roadmap. The campaign is also calling for tourism businesses, visitor attractions and destinations across the UK to get involved. It comes as the tourism agency’s latest forecasts show that domestic tourism spending is estimated this year of £51.4 billion, just over half of the £91.6 billion in 2019. The forecast for inbound tourism spending in the UK this year is £6.2 billion, less than a quarter of the £28.4 billion in 2019.

Escape the Everyday free campaign toolkit is now available for destinations and tourism businesses across the UK with campaign information, ways to get involved and marketing materials that can be adapted to promote local products and services, attractions and experiences with the theme of ‘reconnection.’ Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston, said in a statement that the brilliant tourism and hospitality sector has faced unprecedented challenges over the past year, which is why authorities already provided £25 billion in support, including £5 billion in VAT cuts. He mentioned that there is a lot to see and do across the whole of the UK and the great cities have lots to offer. He encouraged everyone to get out there to explore the wonderful cities and support domestic tourism.