Visit Greenwich

Royal Greenwich – It’s Time launches at Capital Art Gallery

The aim was to encourage people who live, work and study in Royal Greenwich to step outside their homes in a safe and socially distanced way to explore what’s on their doorstep and support their local businesses. It served as a thank you to locals for their commitment to staying safe over the lockdown period and to

key workers for looking after us and keeping the borough running. It also formed the first phase of Visit Greenwich’s tourism recovery plan, recognising that - with public transport being limited to essential travel and no traditional tourists for the short term - the priority visitor market for the area has to be local people.

Barrie Kelly, Chief Executive of Visit Greenwich said, “With thanks to sponsors and so many local businesses getting behind the campaign, we are delighted that we had over 60 offers running over August and September. There were also over 30 events that amazingly were able to happen, reinvented so they could be enjoyed safely and responsibly.”

The festival had a comprehensive marketing and communications plan behind it, including campaign website, map and guide,

• Royal Borough of

Greenwich • Visit Greenwich • Berkeley • Maritime Greenwich

World Heritage Site • The O2 • London South East

College • University of Greenwich • South East London

Chamber of Commerce

social media, e-shots, regular features in Greenwich Info and Greenwich Weekender as well as paid media activity and a campaign video that was viewed on social media and digital screens around the borough. The campaign was also promoted through businesses’ own channels which has enabled the campaign to achieve a reach of over 300,000 people, also gaining interest beyond the borough of Greenwich, which provides confidence for moving to phase 2, domestic marketing.

Full evaluation of the campaign is underway, including consultation with local businesses on how they would like to support similar initiatives. Visit Greenwich’s local tourism marketing will continue from now to Christmas to promote shopping and things to see and do to help drive footfall and local spend.

Campaign results to date

Unique Pageviews: visitgreenwich.org.uk/its-time

Offers pages Events pages Total Visit Greenwich pages

8k+ 13k+ 77k+

Social media: #ItsTimeRG

Reach: 361k people Sentiment: 92% positive-neutral

Paid media

Google, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Reach: 85k

It’s Time for Staycations!

Visit Greenwich has now moved into the second stage of the recovery plan which is to target the UK/domestic visitor market.

Consumer research by VisitBritain and London & Partners shows that there is a keen intention from UK residents to take a short break in the UK between October and December. Consumers are still nervous of places with perceived large crowds of people so Royal Greenwich has a strong offer, being outside zone 1, it can take advantage of having green open spaces and riverside, fresh air, a feeling of space, attractions that are Covid-19 safe and “Good to Go” and the river for a relaxed and reassuring way to travel.

Visit Greenwich is working with local hotels to run a staycation campaign, using the Royal Greenwich – It’s Time! branding with the hashtag #CheckInCheckOut. Hotels have been given a campaign toolkit to help them drive the campaign through their own marketing channels, supported by Visit Greenwich’s channels and VisitBritain’s Escape the Everyday staycation campaign.

Visit Greenwich is a community interest company and the official Destination Management Organisation for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, with a partnership of over 150 businesses. Work with us: partnership@visitgreenwich.org.uk visitgreenwich.org.uk