Market Position
Manchester (along with Manchester Airport) will continue to be positioned as a European city break destination for leisure and business and as an alternative Gateway to the UK, for visitors travelling beyond Manchester to the North of England.
Marketing Manchester will continue to focus tactical effort to grow market share, taking advantage of the trend for city breaks, shorter holidays and the growing number of European low cost airlines. The focus for 2005/6 will be on developing airline partnerships, industry partnerships and customer acquisition.
Target Markets – Key Segments
The primary markets in Europe are; Ireland, Nordic, Germany, with Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France and Eastern Europe as secondary markets. The segments below cover all markets mentioned.
- Youth Segment: Aged 18-35 years. Interested in music and fashion scene, English language studies and city breaks
- DINKS/SINKS Segment (Double/Single Income No Kids): Aged 25-44 years. Medium to high income. Interested in culture, museums, attractive and varied scenery and English language
- Mature/Empty Nesters Segment: Aged 50+. A new and active generation of seniors is emerging. Interested in museums, varied scenery
- VFR Segment (Visiting friends and relatives): Particularly relevant for the Spanish and Irish markets
- Gay and Lesbian Segment: Aged 20-45 years. With a high single or double disposable income and a high propensity to travel often and on regular city breaks
- Incentive and conference/corporate organisers (Also working with NWCBU to target Associations)
Key Activity Summary by Date
Marketing Manchester will partner VB in selected European markets via
- July 2005 (Consumer), VB Gay and Lesbian Campaign
- September 2005 - March 2006 (Consumer), VB Cities Campaign, Ireland, Germany & Netherlands
- Autumn 2005 (Consumer), VB Youth Campaign, Spain
- January 2006 (Consumer), VB Touring Campaign. In partnership with ENC
- Website development and online activity in foreign languages on www.visitmanchester.com
Key European On-Territory Event Dates
- IMEX (business tourism) April 2005, Frankfurt, Germany
- F12 Youth Club Night with SAS and VB (Business, Trade & Consumer). July 2005, Stockholm, Sweden
- COSH (Business) October 2005, Nordic Countries
- Dublin/Galway Travel Trade Events, November/December 2005
- Dublin shopping centre promotion, February 2005
- Dublin Holiday World, (Consumer & Trade) January 2006, Dublin, Ireland.
Literature distribution only
- Vakantiebeurs (Consumer & Trade) January 2006, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Literature distribution only
- Reiseliv (Consumer & Trade) January 2006,
Oslo, Norway. Literature distribution only
- FITUR, (Consumer & Trade) January 2006, Madrid, Spain
- BIT, (Consumer & Trade) February 2006, Milan, Italy
- FERIE, (Consumer & Trade) February 2006, Copenhagen, Denmark
- ITB, (Consumer & Trade) March 2006, Berlin, Germany
- TUR, (Consumer & Trade) March 2006, Gothenburg, Sweden. Literature
distribution only
- SITC, (Consumer) May 2006, Barcelona, Spain
Leisure Opportunities (PDF 892Kb)