VisitGuernsey has been shortlisted for the global Travel Marketing Awards.
The Awards, regarded as the most respected awards event in the travel and tourism marketing calendar, will see travel destinations from all over the world compete for one of the industry’s most sought-after accolades.
The team is shortlisted for the ‘Best use of Content Marketing’ award, for content produced specifically for Liberation 80: Keeping Our War Stories Alive, in the lead up to the 80th anniversary of the Islands’ liberation. The successful entry highlights a collaborative effort between VisitGuernsey and its creative and PR Agency representatives.
For 2024 / 2025 VisitGuernsey took a content-led informative approach to tell the Islands’ wartime story, working with partners and history experts. Authenticity was key, putting stories at the heart of the communication.
Activity included both partnering with well-known history broadcasters and content creators and helping local experts tell their stories. VisitGuernsey’s social channels reached over 3.3 million views during May/June 2024, an increase of 43% YOY, with a 400% uplift in daily page views on our WWII pages during April & May.
The 2024 Visitor Survey also found that the second most popular reason for visiting was the Islands’ history and heritage (53% of respondents).
Historian, broadcaster, and Number 1 Times bestselling author History Alice enabled access to younger audiences and delivered three paid partnership social videos with almost 2 million people viewing Alice’s Guernsey content.
VisitGuernsey also worked with the ‘We Have Ways of Making You Talk’ Podcast team, with Al Murray and James Holland exploring three stories from hidden German Underground Hospitals to concrete fortresses. The podcast was listened to more than 250k times.
PR supplemented their usual lifestyle pieces with specific WWII coverage, and VisitGuernsey launched a new heritage walk layer in their app that uses on-site boards and routes to unlock stories and further content from specific heritage and occupation sites. 111 press pieces directly covered history & heritage including BBC News, The Mirror, The Scotsman, MEN, The Sun and Reach PLC – resulting in 1.9 billion impacts and a media value of over £5 million.
Zoe Gosling, Lead Marketing Officer for the States of Guernsey, said the shortlist announcement could not have come at a better time: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted, particularly for this content. This unique part of our story is not an easy one to tell, but by telling it through the words of those who were here and those who are passionate about history we made it shine in a way that is engaging, credible, and respectful.
“It is a testament to the hard work of this team, our partner agencies and wider trade, and a reflection of the closer working relationships we have built. It is an honour to be shortlisted and to fly the flag for the Islands of Guernsey. This is acknowledgement by industry professionals that our marketing can compete with the best in world.”
