Bath Leaps Up the League Table

Bath leaps 5 places up the visit Britain top towns for international staying visitors league table.

Figures released this week now put Bath in 12th place as the most popular city to visit for international staying visitors ahead of cities such as York, Leeds and Nottingham.  Statistics from VisitBritain show that from 2014 – 2015 there was a 36.8% increase in visitor numbers jumping from 236,000 to 323,000.

This outstanding result from the VisitBritain Inbound figures reflects the strategically focused marketing efforts made by VisitBath particularly during 2013/2014 which were supported by significant funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF).

Activity continued in 2015/2016 with a £5m South West Growth Fund targeting potential visitors in Australia, New Zealand, America, Netherlands, Ireland and Germany.  Bath was also part of a £90k English Heritage Cities Digital and PR campaign via the Great UK Challenge Fund which exposed the city to new audiences in Paris. This more recent 2015/2016 activity will also continue to support the growth.

David James, CEO of VisitBath said “To jump one place in the League Table of in-bound visits is a good result but to move up 5 places to reach 12th is an outstanding performance and illustrates that our work has paid off. However, we cannot rest on our laurels and we now need to build on this fantastic achievement and continue to work hard. We are currently bidding for up to four new product development projects via the VisitBritain Discover Fund and results like this really do show funders such as VisitBritain how good we are at actual delivery. We have our sights set firmly on reaching the top ten but this is going to mean further investment in our marketing efforts and support of our industry and local authority partners.”

David continued “I would like to congratulate my Team for their hard work in achieving this result and thank our industry for their continued support by being Members of VisitBath. We also need to recognise Bath & North East Somerset Council for their support and trust in VisitBath to deliver for the City and beyond. VisitBath are recognised by VisitEngland as an ‘exemplar company’ and being one of the top performing tourist boards in the UK.”