The Camping Caravan and Motorhome Show which took place at the NEC at the end of February, with over 110,000 pre-sold online tickets, was sold out on all 6 days. The Devon presence was strong and was very well represented by all partners across Devon and the Devon stand was co-ordinated and run by DATA. They handed out over 3,500 brochures, fliers and the competition was very popular with 2,500 entries.
Excursions, which took place in mid March at Twickenham Stadium and again was very well attended for Group Travel Organisers. We took a large Visit Devon stand at the event, and worked in collaboration with our Devon area tourism partners; Visit Exeter, Visit South Devon and Destination Plymouth. Visit Devon also sponsored the VIP Lounge where 156 VIP group travel organisers were hosted with a array of Devon produce including freshly baked Scones from Stevie B's Bakery in Crediton, Mid Devon, clotted cream from Langage Farm, Whortleberry Jam (wild berries grown on Dartmoor) by Waterhouse Fayre, wine tasting of Sharpham Wine, an array of Luscombe Juices, samples of Sidmouth Gin, Plymouth Gin (with Fevertree Tonic), Dartmoor Gin, gin from Thunderflower Distillery, boxes of brownies and blonde cakes from Just like Mummas; Burts Crisps, Lovaton Farm Apple Juice, and some beers from Otter Brewery. The Visit Devon stand was busy all day, with all the team speaking to group travel organisers with no breaks, some with group bookings for this year, and forward enquiries for 2023 and 2024. An excellent example of Devon pulling together and showcasing the best of the South West.
We are also working at encouraging our international visitors back to Devon, and especially targeting key markets such as North America, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Sally attended the Visit Britain launch event at The Shard in London in mid March. This was the start of the global 'Welcome Back' campaign being run by Visit Britain and is themed 'Welcome to another side of Britain'. The campaign showcases the diversity that England has and that we are very much open for business. With 50 of our international tour operators and buyers from North America and Europe in attendance, there was a real buzz of being able to meet on a face to face basis once again. We then went on to host the US buyers to Devon and were able to showcase as much of the county as we could in 3 days. The weather was exceptional too, which was an added bonus! We then went onto attend ExploreGB which is the Visit Britain flagship travel trade event to the global market, which is 4 days of appointments with key buyers, tour operators and journalists across the globe. 75% of our appointments for Devon were with buyers from the US and Canada, with the rest being Europe (in the main Germany and France) and a small number from Australia and Japan.
