The last two weeks have rather a busy time for team DB. We have had two of our biggest events with the travel trade – Explore GB, VisitBritain’s flagship trade event and ITB in Berlin, the world’s biggest event for the travel trade.
Explore GB started a day early for us with an educational from German and Austrian trade buyers as part of a Great West Way themed visit. With just a few hours in the city, they took in a walking tour of the Old City and Harbourside, plus a visit to Brunel’s SS Great Britain (and a sneak peak at Being Brunel) before heading off to a reception at Bristol Airport and a flight to Newcastle.
A full two days of appointments followed, with strong interest from trade buyers in Asia (particularly South Korea and China) North America and across Europe. It is also a great opportunity for us to catch up with DMCs in the UK to remind them of the new product coming to Bristol and to remind them of the range of opportunities available. Most importantly, it is to ask them what they need from us to keep the Bristol city region front of mind. Over the two days we had more than 80 meetings.
While we were up in Newcastle, snow was falling in Bristol and so our quick flight home was cancelled and replaced by an epic 8-hour train journey.
After major fam trip disruption, Jon welcomed the Canadian fam trip to Bristol on Monday, who spent 24 hours exploring a range of Bristol venues and activities, from Thornbury Castle to Street Art.
But no rest for us, as this week we have been (and some of are still at) ITB. Attending in partnership with colleagues from Bath, Bristol Airport and Bristol and Bath Cultural Destinations Project and with 20 plus pre-booked appointments ahead of leaving, we were part of the VisitBritain stand, leading to a huge number of walk ups.
We were thrilled to see Bristol represented with VisitBritain’s new ‘I travel for...’ campaign, featuring the classic Bridge and Balloons shot prominent on the stand.
It goes without saying that the majority of these were German, Swiss and Austrian buyers - but also ranged from the truly global to more local interest. Highlights so far have included meeting Germany’s number one Brunel fan and a big Bristol music fan – both of whom will be visiting now in a personal capacity (as well as developing professional programmes) to experience the new Being Brunel museum and the Bristol Music exhibition at M Shed this summer.
The highlight for me though was attending the welcome reception at the British Embassy in Berlin and being greeted not only with the Bridge / Balloons shot outside the Embassy but also the ‘I travel for Culture’ shot at the welcome desk! Both banners were also represented in the main reception room, with the Upfest image used in the presentation to demonstrate how the campaign will be used in market.
While I’m now back, Jon Chamberlain and Martin Pople are holding down the stand in Berlin, ready for the consumer days over the weekend. We have already made over 150 new contacts so far. So, after 2 weeks of non-stop travel trade, it is time to showcase Bristol and Bath as the perfect break for Germans looking to book their own independent travel.
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