Cheshire and Warrington’s world-class tourism attractions are among the must-visit destinations being put on the radar of French tourists as part of a Visit Britain marketing campaign.
The new £400,000 campaign aims to capitalise on air travel including easyJet’s Paris to Liverpool flights and comes hot on the heels of the latest STEAM economic impact report data crunched by Marketing Cheshire which revealed the region’s visitor economy was worth £4.32bn in 2024, matching the 2019 pre-pandemic figure.
The data also revealed that in the space of a year 59.3m visitors – including thousands from France – headed to a region blessed with beautiful scenery, wonderful hospitality sector and diverse attractions that include Chester’s Roman history and the world’s oldest racecourse, Warrington’s Gulliver’s World theme park, and the UNESCO World Heritage site at Jodrell Bank’s Discovery Centre.
VisitBritain, through its GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund – which sees destinations and the tourism industry working in partnership to drive visits and visitor spending through regional gateways – has made £400,000 available to develop international marketing to encourage French and American visitors to explore the north-west of England and surrounding regions.
As part of the initiative VisitBritain will work with Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership and partners including Marketing Cheshire to promoting must-visit areas including Cheshire and Warrington to those flying in using the regular easyJet flights from Paris to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Office for National Statistics data shows 3.6million visits were made to Britian in 2024 by French residents. France was the second largest inbound market for visits to the UK – only behind US in the rankings and was featured in the top three markets for visitor spend. VisitBritain is now forecasting 3.7 million visits (up 4%) from France in 2026, spending £2.2 billion (up 7%). The UK is the third most popular destination for French tourists.
Marketing activity will include VisitBritain’s global screen tourism campaign ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ which uses the powerful draw of film and TV locations and places seen-on-screen to inspire visitors to visit the UK.
Jamie Christon, CEO of Chester Zoo and Chair of Marketing Cheshire, said: “It is great to be working with Visit Britain and city-region partners to shine a light on the truly world class, unique and diverse tourism offering in Cheshire and Warrington which attracts almost 60m visitors a year. Funds like this help ensure North West gateways like Liverpool John Lennon Airport are utilised to signpost even more visitors to our wonderful region.”
Delighted the funding had been secured, Natalie Wyatt, Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership Managing Director, said: “From the rhythm of Liverpool’s waterfront to the tranquillity of the Lakes and the Roman foundations of Chester to the rugged charm of North Wales, the aim is to position the Northwest as a single, unforgettable journey that is accessible, diverse and authentically British.”
And VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates said the funding highlights “how easy it is for international visitors to travel through our regional gateways, encouraging them to explore further and to visit now, with their spending supporting local businesses, destinations and economies.”
