Chester is targeting passengers on the London Underground and other UK train stations in a campaign to bring more visitors into the city. Tony McDonough reports
Chester has launched a campaign to bring in more visitors from across the UK.
Marketing Cheshire is targeting travellers on the London Underground and other UK train stations promoting Chester as the ideal destination for a city break. Most recent figures for the Cheshire West and Chester area show 28m visitors in 2022.
This was still below the 37m recorded in 2019 before the pandemic. However the figure rises to 50m when the whole of Cheshire is included.
Now the City With a Break is using a range of stunning photography that showcases Chester’s boutique appeal displayed at public transport locations.
This includes a series of trackside posters displayed at 11 London Underground stations: Earls Court, Charing Cross, Moorgate, Euston, Embankment, Highbury and Islington, Waterloo, Elephant and Castle, Vauxhall, Heathrow and Notting Hill.
Tapping into a new 1,000-plus bank of glorious photos of Chester and Cheshire funded by VisitEngland and taken by Chester-based photographer Kat Hannon, the large eye-catching posters have directed those using the Tube to the visitchester.com website.
Posters include images of Chester Zoo, Cheshire Oaks and Chester Cathedral using snappy slogans including: “From impromptu walks to impressive reptiles”; or “From foodie adventures to forest escapes”.
London Underground posters have proved a huge hit, prompting a spike in website visitors and seen by an estimated 715,000 people during its two week “launch period” at the start of June.
In partnership with Transport for Wales and Avanti West Coast, a mix of billboards have been secured across the UK including at mainline stations in London, Birmingham, Manchester, North Wales, Wrexham, Shrewsbury, and Cardiff.
This campaign was devised by the creative team at Marketing Cheshire and developed with additional counsel from strategic campaign partners Chester Zoo and Cheshire Oaks.
Chair of Marketing Cheshire, Trevor Brocklebank said: “We want to capture the imagination of potential visitors to our boutique city to make more of their visit and venture further with our world class attractions.
“They include Chester Zoo, Tatton Park, Jodrell Bank and BeWILDerwood, paired with our wonderful hotels, restaurants, pubs, green space and diverse retail offer ranging from McAurther Glens Designer Outlet Villages to Chester’s 13th Century Rows.
READ MORE: Chester unveils plans for ‘tourist tax’ to raise £1m
READ MORE: Chester Zoo recovery accelerates as revenues hit £50m
“A stay in Chester is the ideal base to explore not only a historic city, but many other destinations and attractions – a break that takes you from the Savannahs of Africa one afternoon to the heart of a Cheshire forest the next.”
The campaign, which will run until November 1, follows analysis from Marketing Cheshire from the latest STEAM economic impact report which showed the region’s visitor economy was worth £3.41bn in 2022.
Chester has also enjoyed increased year-on-year footfall with figures released on December 30, 2023 revealing the number of annual visitors to the city was 16.6m – up 1.9% on the previous year.