L to R: Sue Beverley UKTI NE, Katie Scott marketing manager Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Wendy Benson Direc

Member Article

North East luxury hotels set sights on US tourism market

Four of the region’s luxury hotels have been working with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) North East to explore opportunities in the lucrative USA tourism market.

Seaham Hall, Rockliffe Hall, Matfen Hall and Lumley Castle have come together to represent the North East and provide American travellers with a rounded picture of luxury stays available here in the North East.

Sue Beverley, UK Trade and Investment International Trade Adviser, said: “UKTI carried out a piece of research to identify the top 10 markets for prestigious UK hotels and suggested to the four hotels that they get together to discuss a joint marketing approach – to make the appeal stronger and benefit from pooling marketing resources.

“We also put them in touch with UKTI in New York who skyped with them and provided a list of agencies and operators for them to contact.

“As a result the group has now formed into a brand and is engaging with other operators in the North East such as visitor attractions to do some tactical campaign marketing into the US.”

Wendy Benson of Seaham Hall commented: “By working together prestigious hotels can help interest visitors from the USA see the North East as a whole as a target destination as they do with the Lake District and The Cotswolds for example.

“UKTI’s support meant that we could find out more accurately which markets to target and which parts of our offer were most attractive to US visitors.”

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