VISITBRITAIN AND THE BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE TAP INTO WORLD’S PASSION FOR FOOTBALL
[London, 14 April 2009] Visitors to Britain will soon find it easier than ever to see when their favourite Barclays Premier League football team is playing, buy tickets for a match, enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the ground, or find out more about attractions and experiences in nearby destinations.
National tourism agency VisitBritain has joined forces with the Premier League, the organisers of the world’s most popular football competition, to profile destinations with links to Barclays Premier League players and clubs.
Potential visitors can use a single website, www.visitbritain.com/football, to find out when their favourite players are taking to the pitch, what they like about Britain, as well as a wealth of things to see and do in and around teams’ home grounds. Visitors to the website can check ticket availability for all Premier League Club fixtures and purchase them through official ticket outlets. The website has been translated in the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, Thai, Chinese, Korean and Japanese and Arabic.
VisitBritain and the Barclays Premier League have also launched a joint TV advertising campaign in South Africa and the USA encouraging fans to come and experience a Barclays Premier League match in Britain, the home of football. In addition, a joint on-line advertising activity is taking place in Sweden, Czech Republic and the USA.
With 41% of potential visitors to Britain very likely to watch a football match during their trip, and around 1.2m visitors attending a football match during trips to the UK in 2007, tourism bosses expect the partnership to draw even more attention to Britain’s appeals. The site features information on the twenty clubs in the Barclays Premier League and their respective destinations – from London, Manchester and Liverpool to Clubs located in the Midlands and North East regions.
England’s Barclays Premier League is the world's most popular and most watched football league - with a cumulative global audience in excess of 4.5 billion. Players like Didier Drogba from the Ivory Coast, Fernando Torres from Spain, Ji-Sung Park from South Korea and Robinho from Brazil give an example of the diversity of the Barclays Premier League and the partnership aims to use the appeal of both British and foreign stars to attract people to the UK. The website features interviews with several players including Cesc Fabregas and Brad Freidel talking about what it is like to live in Britain and some of their favourite places.
Mike Bedingfield, Marketing Director of VisitBritain, says: “England’s Barclays Premier League is an iconic brand that people around the world are familiar with and, as one in ten (14%) of all our visitors watch or take part in sport during their trip to Britain, it could inspire many more to come here.
“For many people, their first encounter with Britain is through our sporting, film, literary or music heritage. Football is widely watched overseas and, with matches being shown in over 200 countries around the world. Our work with the Premier League will help us reach new audiences and encourage even more people to consider a trip to Britain in 2008 and beyond.”
Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, says: “This partnership with Visit Britain gives us a unique opportunity to use the interest in the Premier League Clubs to encourage potential visitors to attend matches and visit the many other attractions nearby.
“The Barclays Premier League is now watched in over 200 countries around the world and our clubs are more involved in their own communities than ever before. This means they, as ambassadors for their local areas, are ideally positioned to promote their cities both at home and abroad.”
As well as taking tours of the football grounds they see on TV, visitors to Britain can discover a wealth of popular and less well-known attractions close to Premier League football grounds. From Chelsea Physic Garden to the Museum of Fulham Palace, Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower and Historic Dockyard, Liverpool’s place as Capital of Culture for 2008 as well as Manchester’s Lowry, Imperial War Museum North and Urbis. There’s also Wigan’s History Shop, Blackburn’s cathedral, Ormesby Hall in Middlesborough, and the Potteries around Stoke.
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