Britain's tourism promotion board, Visit Britain, will soon launch a marketing campaign in India to woo travellers as a part of its global branding exercise and expects about 18% jump in the number of Indians visiting the country this year.
"We are restructuring the way we are doing marketing in India. A big campaign will be launched after April that will spread across a large region, including India," Visit Britain Country Manager India Paramjit Bawa told reporters here.
In 2010, about 3.2 lakh people from India visited Britain for leisure, studies, work and to visit friends and relatives.
"In 2011, we expect an increase of 15% to 18% in the total number of travellers to Britain from India," Bawa said.
He said the Visit Britain is promoting upcoming events like the Royal Wedding in April (Prince William's with his fiance Kate Middleton), British Queen's Diamond Jubilee and London Olympic Games in 2012.
Bawa said India is a very important market for Britain and significant investment in marketing and promotion will be made here.
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"In 2010, around 2-3 million pounds were spent on marketing and PR activities in India," he said, without giving details on the current year's financial spending plans.
Commenting on the new branding exercise, Bawa said: "We have received feedback from people who feel that Britain is not a very welcoming country and with the new campaign and branding exercise, we want to change that."
The board has also conducted a research based on the perception of people about the process of getting visa for Britain.
"We will very soon submit the findings of the research to the visa office of Britain and convey the observation made by the media in India, tourists and people at large," he added.
For the new campaign, the board also wants to rope in celebrities to talk about the destination and give testimonials for promotion of Britain.
"Currently, we are in talks with people like Bollywood producer and director Karan Johar, actor Katrina Kaif, journalist Mark Tully and sarod duo Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan," he said, adding, "but nothing has been finalised yet."
Britain is among the top-10 countries visited by Indians every year, he added.