International Campaign - North America

Key Facts:

Inbound Visitor statistics:

  • The USA was the UK’s largest source market in terms of volume of visits (4.5m), nights (29 million) and spend (£4.18billion) in 2019
  • The USA has continued to be York’s top international source market and has been for more than 10 years (15% of all overseas visitors)
  • Americans took 128 million outbound overnight trips in 2019, more than any other country in the world, and were ranked 2nd place globally for international tourism expenditure, behind Chinese travellers
  • Britain was the 5th most visited international destination and 2nd most visited European destination by US travellers in 2019
  • American visitors spent on average 6 nights per visit in the UK in 2019
  • 49% of all visits to the UK were for holidays in 2019, followed by visiting friends and relatives (23%) and business (18%)
  • 49% of nights were spent in a hotel/guest house and 30% of nights were spent for free with VFR
  • London accounts for 49% of visitor nights, while Yorkshire accounts for 2%

Visitor characteristics:

  • American visitors tend to be older than the average UK visitor. 48% of American visitors were aged 45+
  • New York Tr-State and California generate the most visits to Britain, representing over a third (35%) of all visits from the US
  • Almost 6 in 10, 59% of holiday visits were made by repeat visitors
  • VisitBritain’s research indicates that 80% of American travellers intend to take an international leisure trip in the next 12 months

England Originals 

We continue to be heavily involved in the England Originals campaign promoting England's Historic Cities to the US and key UK DMCs.  England Originals were represented at the recent Destination Britain North America show in Washington. York is featured on the Treasure Trove itinerary. Also showcased in the Online Travel Trade training programme for England Originals and through travel trade, social and content promotion on behalf of the wider consortium.

Editorial/ trade content:

  • Reach the trade and agents through your venue being featured in a series of e-newsletters written by Paull Tickner who has 30+ years proven track record of reaching the North American market. You will have the opportunity to supply copy direct to Paull for inclusion:
  • Weekly “Inside Track” newsletter to 1,300 hand-picked, very experienced travel agents. The Unique Opening Rate on the current list is just over 20%.
  • 12 editorials from the “Inside Track” will be added to the Ensemble Travel Group's extranet which means it will be available to 6,500 high quality US travel agents.
  • June and October York exclusive Britain Insider columns in the 75,000 circulation Travel Pulse

VisitBritain trade e-newsletters:

VB has regular trade e-newsletters. Make sure your content is being pushed to the right operators. We will be feeding through stories and articles on a regular basis.

VY’s own English speaking database now stands at 423 contacts and we will be delivering 2 x dedicated e-newsletters per annum. (current open rate 23%). 323 of those contacts are from North America.

For more information on our marketing activity in North America, contact Michelle Brown, Email: michelle.brown@makeityork.com