TORONTO — The start of VisitBritain’s flagship travel trade event, Destination Britain North America, is the latest sign of recovery for the industry.

Taking place Sept. 8 – 10 in Washington, D.C. as an in-person event – the first since 2018 – Destination Britain North America and its participating travel trade and industry suppliers are set to show why Britain is the must-go-now destination to buyers from North America.

More than 2,000 one-to-one business appointments are scheduled for the three-day trade fair. British suppliers on hand for the event include hotels, visitor attractions, tour operators and destination management companies from throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

In addition to networking and business opportunities, the show will highlight the latest international travel market trends and what the UK is doing to attract more international visitors.

Says VisitBritain’s Executive Vice President for the Americas, Gavin Landry: “This flagship trade event has been a catalyst for business for a decade and we are delighted to be bringing this event back to North America, giving British tourism suppliers and local destinations the chance to get their tourism products and services in front of top travel buyers and forge valuable business connections.”

He added: “The latest innovations in tourism from across Britain will be also on show with the focus this year on industry recovery and exploring more through regional gateways, ultimately inspiring visitors to book a trip right now, travel farther and stay longer, boosting the economy.”

Pre-pandemic, in 2019 the Canadian market delivered 874,000 visits to the UK (the second highest on record) with Canadian visitors spending a record £724.36 million. That same year, there were 4.5 million visits from the U.S. with those visitors spending £4.18 billion.

Always a strong region for inbound UK tourism, North American flight arrivals and bookings to Britain are nearing pre-pandemic levels, driven in part by VisitBritain’s latest marketing campaign.

Landry notes that while VisitBritain research shows that there is still pent-up demand in Canada and the U.S. for international travel, more than half of respondents had not yet made up their mind where to travel.

So VisitBritain is pushing ahead with continued investment in North America, to capture as much of that undecided segment as possible.