UK Culture Secretary Announces Marketing Plan for 2012

A new government priority—to produce “the best marketing plan that any country has ever had” around 2012—was set out by UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt in his first key-note speech on tourism policy.

Hunt pledged to create a new fund with the aim of generating £1 billion worth of public relations and marketing activity in priority markets in the years around 2012 and harness the full potential of 2012 to create a permanent tourism legacy for the whole country, creating a sustained and sustainable increase in the number of tourists, among other actions.

Hunt stressed that the UK would learn the lessons from other global events in the past such as the Olympics in Barcelona and Sydney, and Germany’s hosting of the World Cup. “My priority is to make sure that London 2012 gets it right; that we draw on all these lessons to produce the best tourism marketing plan that any country has ever had.”

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will work with private sector partners both to build up this fund and work out the most cost effective way to spend it. Detailed plans of how this fund will work will be published by the end of September.