Industry News

England's Historic Cities launch new travel trade itineraries and resource

Publication Date: 28th Nov 2024

A new England Originals Travel Trade Guide, brought to you by England’s Historic Cities, has been launched this autumn.

England’s Historic Cities is a consortium of 13 Historic Cities in England, including Bath, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chester, Durham, Greenwich, Lancaster, Lincoln, Oxford, Salisbury, Stratford-upon-Avon and York.

This new resource is designed to support tour operators/wholesalers and travel agents who are developing fixed or tailormade suggested multi-city England itineraries.

This new edition has been expanded with useful trade focused product information, in response to feedback from the industry. It includes a selection of attractions, experiences, tour guiding companies and accommodation providers for each city, offering a wealth of history and heritage for international visitors to England.

There are two new multi city suggested itineraries with new products featured, ‘Northern Cities by Rail’ and ‘Southern Cities by Rail or Car’. In addition, there are 5 themed inspirational and bookable suggested itineraries – Western Wonders, Thinkers & Writers, Time TravellersTreasure Trove and Wall to Wall; each include 2- 3 cities and are easy for the trade to pick ‘n’ mix places to visit and stay, to complete their programmes.      

Florence Wallace, who is leading on Travel Trade engagement strategy for EHC said, “We’re excited to be able to launch this new resource to the trade to promote new tourism experiences and assist the industries product development helping generate more tourism footfall and visitor spend. Our Travel Trade Partnerships and network continue to grow, with intermediaries who are committed to developing and distributing multi-city bookable programmes worldwide, but with a particular focus on North American visitors.”

Melanie Sensicle, EHC chairperson said, “This new guide is a key tool in our travel trade engagement strategy and a great way to showcase our thirteen wonderful cities to travel trade partners across the world.  England Originals has been our leading trade facing brand for almost five years built and the result of over a decade of collaboration between destinations that share common interests and products. It is great to see it continuing to gain traction in the domestic and international marketplace.”

The new travel trade guide highlights trade information for approximately 120 tourism businesses, including percentage discounted trade rates, min/max groups sizes, car/coach parking and key trade contacts, as well as providing overarching information on each of the city destinations with travel information and image library links.

This is an invaluable resource for intermediaries crafting bespoke itineraries for international visitors wishing to explore the amazing historic cities in England during 2025 and beyond.