Tourist boards’ new city HQ location is revealed
VisitEngland / VisitBritain hub will open next month
NATIONAL tourism marketing boards VisitEngland and VisitBritain will open their new regional hub in Birmingham next month.
The pair have announced their new home in the city centre will be in Victoria Square House after first revealing plans for the base last July.
The government bodies work to raise Britain’s profile worldwide as a visitor destination and develop England’s visitor economy.
They will share offices with another government body, the Gambling Commission, which created a new head office there in 2006 following its launch the previous year.
VisitEngland and VisitBritain said they picked the West Midlands for the new hub due to the region’s strong international and domestic transport links, availability of local talent and the successful transition of other government departments and private-sector companies to the area.
Research suggests the region welcomed a record 141.2 million visitors in 2022, with tourist spend rising to a record £14.1 billion.
In another welcome announcement, the West Midlands has been chosen as only the second English pilot region for a socalled Destination Development Partnership.
The new nationwide scheme has been introduced following an independent review into tourism boards, and this new partnership is made up of the Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country, and Coventry and Warwickshire local visitor economy partnerships.
The West Midlands Destination Development Partnership’s aim is to further cement the region as a mustvisit destination and also attract private investment and drive growth.
It will focus on issues such as tourism sector skills, sustainability and accessibility, inward investment and major events.
The tourism bodies were supported by inward investment agency West Midlands Growth Company on the selection process for the new base.
The announcement comes during English Tourism Week, which runs until Sunday, and this year’s West Midlands Tourism Awards, which took place this week and crowned the region’s top tourism businesses across 14 categories.
Patricia Yates, chief executive of VisitEngland and VisitBritain, said: “We are delighted to have secured office space in central Birmingham as we begin the transition to our new hub.
“We are excited about the opportunities and perspectives that having our hub in Birmingham will bring, alongside its excellent transport links for both our international and Britain-based staff and access to a broad talent pool.
“Basing our hub office in Birmingham also brings us closer to our regional stakeholders across England including the West Midlands Growth Company.
“We are delighted that they have become a Destination Development Partnership pilot and will be working with them to drive the economic benefits from tourism across the nations and regions.”
West Midlands mayor Andy Street added: “This move to the West Midlands is a major vote of confidence in our region and comes at a time when visitor numbers here are at a record high.
“We look forward to welcoming VisitBritain and VisitEngland to Victoria Square House from April.”
We are excited about the opportunities and perspectives that having our hub in Birmingham will bring. Patricia Yates