Simplified visas, competitions lure visitors to Britain

BRITAIN has long been a popular destination for South African tourists, and with an improvement in the exchange rate and simplified online visa applications, now is a good time to plan a visit.

This was the message to travel agents at an event in Pretoria yesterday to launch #OMGB, a campaign from Visit Britain and British Airways.

Speaking at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Pretoria, Deputy High Commissioner Peter Boxer said ties between South Africa and the UK remained deep and wide, but urged visitors to think beyond London, as there was “more to Britain than Big Ben and Buckingham Palace”.

Visit Britain’s Carol Maddison said Britain was a popular long-haul destination for South Africans with 231000 visits in 2015 and more in 2016 (no official figures are out yet).

She also said that while many visitors knew London, Visit Britain wanted to expand product knowledge to other parts of the UK where visitors could also have amazing experiences.

One could plan destination theme trips around history, events, landscape, or literature, with 2017 the year of literary heroes, including the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death and the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book.

Recent media trips were themed around free things to do, while another looked at the upcoming release of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, she said.

As suggested by its hashtag, #OMGB (Oh My Great Britain) goes beyond encouraging taking a different look at what is unique in England, Scotland and Wales (Tourism Ireland caters for that country), to also sharing memories of special moments with others.

It is an extension of the global GREAT Britain marketing campaign launched in 2012 (the year of the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics), which showcases the best of what modern Britain has to offer and encourages people not only to visit, but also to study, do business and invest there.

“#OMGB captures people’s imagination and is a call to action to promote Britain.

“Britain is recognised as a destination for culture and heritage, but we also want visitors to have a fresh view of Britain as a young, dynamic and contemporary destination,” she said.

#OMGB moments are personal and can be anything one wants to share. For Boxer it is “eating fish and chips with my boys on Brighton Beach”,while for Maddison - who is based in Dubai - it is walking in the highlands of her home country, Scotland. To encourage sharing, the campaign comes with a Facebook competition with a generous prize: a holiday for two including flights and accommodation to experience an OMGB, such as taking the fastest zipline in Wales, watching Manchester United at Old Trafford, living like royalty in a Scottish Castle, or taking a hot air balloon trip over beautiful Bath at sunset.

To support the campaign, British Airways is offering discounted fares until April 3 for travel at certain times in the months ahead. For those concerned about visas, there was good news that further enhancements had simplified the visa application to a three-step process, and visas were issued to 99% of South Africans who applied and could be processed in as few as six working days, with special arrangements in priority situations. Applicants were also able to retain their passports during the process should that be necessary. - Val Boje

For more information on #OMGB go to http://en.omgb.com/. For the competition, go to www.britishairways.com (visit-britain-competition).