Sue from Visit Isle of Wight shares details of the latest campaign. Ed
Visit Isle of Wight is hoping that love birds will flock to the Isle of Wight next Spring with the launch of the new Romantic Breaks and Spring Escapes campaign designed to attract couples and families to the most romantic Island in the British Isles.
The new campaign, which has already begun, will promote short breaks and romantic hot spots across the Island in print, digital and social media over the Christmas and New Year period in an attempt to lure new visitors to the Island in early 2017.
“Pure Island Happiness in a box”
Blog features, press features, adverts in glossy publications, and even a billboard at Southampton airport are part of the marketing mix being deployed by the WIGHT BID Company this winter. Wellness brand Liz Earle has joined the campaign to promote “Pure Island Happiness in a box” – selling romantic breaks as Christmas presents to put under the tree.
Visit Wight CEO, David Thornton, claims,
“The Isle of Wight is the premier romantic escape in Britain.
“We’re the original love Island, and people just can’t help falling in love when they get here.”
Coming back for more
Tourist board research reveals that over 30% of all visitors just keep coming back for more, some as many as five times a year, whilst over 60% of all visitors make repeat trips within two years.
“Once guests fall in love with the Isle of Wight they stay remarkably loyal. Our new campaign has been created to seek out new lovers and bring them to our shores, knowing full well that over half will be back for a return trip within 18 months.”
“Destination toolkit”
Visit Isle of Wight believes that a key factor in the success of the campaign will be a new “destination toolkit” created for the Island’s tourism industry to use in their own marketing materials.
The toolkit contains a collections of copyright free images, graphics, social media banners and over ten pages of product information that WIGHT BID levy members can download for free and use in their own communications. The aim of the toolkit is to carry a consistent message about romantic breaks on the Island to as wide an audience as possible.
“We really don’t mind if tourism providers on the Island use the toolkit to drive traffic to their own Website or ours, the purpose is to provide our Industry operators with quality photos and copy they can use to capture the imagination of would-be visitors next spring and get them booking romantic breaks and spring escapes on the Island.”
£560million a year
Tourism is worth over £560million a year to the Isle of Wight economy, and employs almost one third of the Island’s workforce.
2.7million visitors came to the Island in 2016, of which 300,000 sail across in small vessels, whilst the remaining 2.4million travelled by Red Funnel, Wightlink or Hovertravel.
Visit Isle of Wight believes that Christmas and the New Year is an optimum time to reach couples and families and introduce the idea of a spring break on the Island.
“Last year we saw a 6% increase in visitors between January and March, and we want to take this seasonal opportunity to sow the seeds of a visit in Spring 2017.”
“Return to Adventure Island”
Visit Isle of Wight also revealed that in January they will be launching a new campaign aimed at attracting new family guests to the Island during the Easter, Spring bank and summer holiday periods.
The tourist board claims that the new campaign, entitled “Return to Adventure Island” will reconnect the Island with family visitors in a compelling and dramatic way, but is remaining tight lipped about the details until the New Year.
