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Visit Bristol has launched a new ‘experiences’ digital campaign which aims to bring new visitor to the city.
Following a current visitor trend reflected in VisitBritain’s recent ‘micro-gapping’ campaign, the dedicated Bristol Experiences website invites visitors to discover a range of Bristol-bred activities. Visitors can peer behind secret doors, learn to cook, drive a steam train, practice yoga, spray their own street art, mix a cocktail, or spend the night with Gelada baboons.
The experiences are divided into 18 categories including:
- Food and Drink. Head to the tasting table at Averys Wine Merchants, sign up for a chocolate workshop at the Chocolate Tart, get behind the scenes at the 6 O’Clock Gin distillery, try a sushi masterclass at Yakinori or join a tour of the city’s craft ale breweries with Bristol Hoppers.
- Film and TV. With Bristol being a UNESCO City of Film, experiences for include an Only Fools & Horses Tour, tours of BBC Bristol and classic cinema shown in a range of unusual locations (Bristol Film Festival presents Battle of Britain screened beneath an original Concorde at Aerospace Bristol).
- Green and Social Impact experiences include invitations to an Incredible Edible Growing Party at Better Food, to volunteer at Windmill Hill City Farm or to help Clean up Bristol Harbour (as you’d expect in a Former European Green Capital.
- Dark Bristol. Visitors can brave a theatrical Blood, Booze and Buccaneers Tour, or discover the grave stories behind Arnos Vale – one of the UK’s best examples of a Victorian garden cemetery.
- Secret Bristol includes hard-hat tours of the hidden vaults at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, behind-the-scenes theatre tours at Bristol Old Vic and a peek at the University of Bristol’s ornate 18th century gardens at Goldney Hall
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Other categories include Gardens and Nature (try futuristic farming at We the Curious or Meet the gardeners at Bristol Zoo Gardens), Family days out (discover the Treasure Island trail app), Sports and Active (abseil the Avon Gorge or take to the streets on a tandem), Wildlife (gorillas, lemurs, sealions), Boat Trips (…with Captain Barnacle perhaps), Classes and Workshops (floristry, Thai cookery, or spray-can street-art sessions), Arts & Culture (yoga at Bristol City Museum or backstage tour of Bristol Hippodrome), Music and Nightlife (a Blues and Beyond experience, or the Pink Floyd Fulldome at the Planetarium), Shopping (Style Concierge at Harvey Nicholls), Luxury (treat yourself to a hot-air balloon flight), Spa and Wellbeing (spa-day at a Victorian Lido) and Historic Experiences (try a pirate themed day out or dress up as a Tudor at Thornbury Castle).
Also in the mix is a collection of Accommodation Experiences. Visitors can spend the night in an industrial designer apartment or a rooftop retro caravan, stay in a floating hotel, sleep in the UK’s largest four-post bed, or get close to the animals at Wildplace Project’s Camp Baboon.
The campaign sits in a new section of the Visit Bristol website, which attracted over 3.3 million visits in 2018.
“The experience trend has been evolving in the last 18 months, and we have been quietly working towards bringing together the huge range of experiences available to visitors in the city region,” said Bristol’s Head of Tourism Kathryn Davis.
“Evidence shows that travellers want more than a passive visit, whether this is learning a new skill or experiencing a bucket-list activity and we have already uncovered more than 200 experiences than can be booked. The digital campaign means that we can keep adding new content to the site as and when new experiences are being developed.”
For more information about participating in the campaign please contact [email protected].
