GREAT ads roll out around the world.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, has today officially launched our £25 million image campaign, as it rolls out across 14 major cities in nine key inbound tourism markets, reaching an estimated audience of some 90 milion people.  

Running until March 2013, activity is being undertaken in major cities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan and the US with the aim of enhancing overseas perceptions of the UK as a major tourism destination and helping drive economic growth.

New York commuters will see subway trains wrapped in the Union Jack and Grand Central Station filled with GREAT images. Subway routes in the city – New York is the largest source of US visitors to the UK - will also be lined with Britain branding and copies of the New York Metro newspaper will be covered with an invitation to come to choose Britain for their next holiday.

In Delhi, GREAT billboards will line the main routes in the city, 100 GREAT branded taxis will be driving on the streets and the newspapers will be full of our images. Residents in Rio and Sao Paulo will see GREAT images sprawled across the sides of buildings, lining key city streets. Our invitation to visit Britain will also be wrapped around their Metro newspaper.

Meanwhile France, the UK’s largest source market for inbound arrivals, is also being targeted as part of the campaign. Ads will be on display at metro stations and Franklin D. Roosevelt metro station will be dressed as an art gallery of GREAT images for all to enjoy. Ads will be also seen by millions of cinemagoers on movie screens across France, as well as in cinemas in India, Brazil and Germany.

Over two-thirds of our target audience in these cities will get to see our adverts more than five times, meaning nearly 90 million people will be focusing on all that is GREAT about coming here for their next holiday and the chance to experience Britain’s unique blend of the old and the new, our rich history and culture, our spectacular countryside and coastline, and our thriving music, theatre, art and fashion scenes.

The international reach of the campaign will be strengthened by the use of digital and social media. Today we have also announced a global partnership with Yahoo!, the world’s most visited homepage. There are 400 million Yahoo! users across Germany, France, India, China, Australia, Japan, Brazil, USA and Canada - the partnership will guarantee over 5 million views of our content on the Yahoo! network and help drive 3.5 million visits to VisitBritain’s own online platforms.

Along with the GREAT image effort overseas, passengers arriving at airports across the UK - including the likes of Heathrow, Gatwick, London City and Manchester - will see GREAT posters on display when they get off the plane and as they travel onwards through the airport. This is to help reinforce a sense of a warm welcome and help improve perceptions of the UK’s overall friendliness.

This campaign adds to the £100 million match funded tactical campaign we are already running with partners which aims to drive 4.6 million visitors to the UK over the next four years, stimulating £2.3 billion in international spend for the UK economy.

If you would like to get involved, here are a few simple steps:

Download our online tourism industry toolkit free of charge. The toolkit includes adverts, newsletter templates, posters and e-cards which you can personalise with your own message and tailor for your own use to invite past, existing and potential customers to visit Britain.

Go to our Love UK page on Facebook, and use our free, customisable 10 GREAT reasons app on Facebook to invite your customers, friends, or anyone you're connected with on Facebook to come to the UK. It allows you to select a specific region of the UK to invite them to, as well as to personalise the reasons why they should come.

Visit our opportunity search for more details on our marketing opportunities.