VISITBRITAIN kicked off in Singapore over the weekend the next phase of the global roll out of its Great Britain You’re Invited campaign (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 13).
ION Orchard and the Mandarin Gallery were the venues for several giant three-dimensional floor art installations depicting scenes from various tourism attractions in the UK, such as Covent Garden, Westminster Abbey, Wimbledon, Loch Ness in Scotland, and even the Abbey Road zebra crossing immortalized in pop culture by English rock band The Beatles.
Singapore was the first international stop for the Great Britain 3D project, which will take the three-dimensional canvasses on a 10-city tour including Sydney, Shanghai, New York, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Moscow and Stockholm among others.
VisitBritain global head of market planning and operations, Garry White, said: “Each one (of the canvasses) tells an individual story about a part or place in Britain. Instead of traditional media, we decided to go with something fun and interactive, hoping that after interacting with the canvasses, people would go and tell their friends about what they had experienced.”
VisitBritain is hoping to increase media hype in the run-up to a year of celebrations in 2012, highlighted by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Over a million visitors were estimated to have visited London for the royal wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William earlier this year, with the UK seeing an eight per cent increase in visitors to over eight million during the March-May period, according to VisitBritain.
Over a million more overseas visitors are expected to attend the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, while over five million are anticipated for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Meanwhile, Singapore National Olympic Committee chef de mission, Jessie Phua, said of the widespread riots in London last month: “It was a blessing in disguise. London will be even more prepared than ever to cope with potential problems in the future.”
