Visit Isle of Wight (VIOW) has hosted a destination familiarisation trip to the Island for a group of six tour operators from Norway and Sweden.
With the aim of enhancing knowledge about the South East and ultimately increasing bookings from these markets, the group visit was organised by Tourism South East in partnership with London and Partners with funding support from the GREAT UK Challenge Fund.
The familiarisation trip ran from 22nd – 26th January and hosted product decision makers from a range of key Swedish and Norwegian excursions businesses on the programme. The 5-day itinerary included visits to attractions in London, Brighton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
The group were escorted by Nigel Smith, CEO, Tourism South East, and were met at Hovertravel in Ryde by Sue Emmerson, Press Officer, Visit Isle of Wight.
There followed a personal tour of Osborne by Michael Hunter, English Heritage Curator, in the course of which the group learned more about the links between the British and the Scandinavian Royal Families. In particular Princess Alexandra of Denmark who in 1863 married the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Edward VII Prince of Wales.
The party then enjoyed a delicious lunch in Osborne’s Terrace Restaurant before returning to the mainland to continue their tour of other South East attractions.
Sue Emmerson, Press Officer for Visit Isle of Wight, said:
“Despite the short time the tour operators were with us, we were able to give them a flavour of the Island. They were all very impressed with Osborne and were particularly intrigued by a display of old photographs and historic documents relating to members of their own Royal households.
Article continues below this advertisement “Fam trips are a great learning tool for tour operators and we would like to thank Hovertravel and English Heritage for their continued support in promoting the Island as a first-class tourism destination.”
