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VisitGuernsey is trying again to bring more American tourists to the island, launching a new campaign based around the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Off the back of the Netflix release of the film version, the tourism body has got a new multimedia promotional campaign ready to raise awareness of Guernsey as a holiday destination.
But even before this new campaign, US web traffic surrounding Guernsey has gone up 600% since the film's release.
VisitGuernsey has kept using a New York-based travel and film specialist PR agency, and through their media outreach, Guernsey has been featured in high-profile consumer and trade footage and publications like the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, OnAir with Ryan Seacrest, Go Nomad, Metro and more. Netflix has also secured coverage on the release of the film in such high profile media titles as The New York Times, New York Post and Town & Country magazine, which also promoted Guernsey as a holiday destination.
Pictured: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was released on US Netflix earlier in the year, and saw American interest in Guernsey rocket.
These articles have been seen by more than 90 million potential visitors in what VisitGuernsey called 'key markets' across the U.S. which represents an equivalent advertising spend of more than $840,000.
The Guernsey film has been touted as the reason for increasing tourism figures, after it received great reviews across the US and elsewhere.
In the third quarter of this year, the average stay length of visitors increased (from 4.1 nights to 4.9) with people also saying they are coming to the island because they've seen the film, and want to explore its history. At this year's annual tourism seminar, the film was put down as a main factor behind rising profits across the industry.
But to start this new campaign, VisitGuernsey has been making new efforts across the board.
Wendy Pedder, Marketing Manager, attended the Visit Europe Media Exchange (VEMEX) in New York, during October, where she held 20 one-to-one appointments with potential partners and freelance journalists. Then, in partnership with Random House, Netflix and Visit Britain, VisitGuernsey participated in a special movie screening in Miami in August along with one-to-one interviews with key influential Miami media.
VisitGuernsey has also launched competitions to promote the launch of the film on Netflix and the re-release of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society novel with a new movie-themed cover. The competition was hosted on the VisitGuernsey website and was responsible for attracting 8,752 entries and 5,000 views of the 'accompanying featurette'.
"The increased marketing efforts in the U.S. market have already begun to payoff for VisitGuernsey with web traffic from US users having increased by an impressive 600 percent from last year, and industry members reporting healthy early enquiries from the US," a spokesperson said.
Pictured: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie film has helped increase interest from American visitors.
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