VisitBritain is the name used by the British Tourist Authority (formerly the British Travel & Holiday Association), the

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

board of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. Under memoranda of understanding with the

Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tourism Northern Ireland, also known as Tourism NI, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for the Economy. Its primary objective is to promote Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to domestic tourists, from within Northern Ire ...

and the offshore islands of

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, VisitBritain also hosts information on those territories on its website. However, under the 1969 Act, the remit of the organisation extends only to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

rather than the whole of the

. VisitBritain was created in April 2003 to market Britain to the rest of the world and to promote and develop the visitor economy of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was formed out of a merger between the

British Tourist Authority VisitBritain is the name used by the British Tourist Authority (formerly the British Travel & Holiday Association), the tourist board of the United Kingdom incorporated under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. Under memoranda of understanding w ...

and the English Tourism Council, and is a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

responsible to the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

. In April 2009, VisitEngland became more of a stand-alone body from VisitBritain, more on a par with the devolved entities,

VisitScotland VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board (), is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and ...

and

VisitWales Visit Wales () is the Welsh Government's tourism organisation. Its aim is to promote Welsh tourism and assist the tourism industry. History The Wales Tourist Board was established in 1969 as a result of the Development of Tourism Act 1969 a ...

. In 2005, it was voted the world's leading Tourist and Convention Bureau in the World Travel Awards. In the Webby Awards it has been an Official Honoree in the 10th and 12th Webby Awards in the Tourism Category. In 2008 it was also awarded the Travelmole Best Tourist Board Website award.Travelmole
Award VisitBritain is a founding partner of

ENAT The European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) is a non-profit association of tourism enterprises, organisations and individuals from the private, public and NGO sectors aimed at evaluating good practices, as well as providing and endorsing se ...

, the European Network for Accessible Tourism, an international organisation based in Europe, set up in 2006 to promote

accessible tourism Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavor to ensure tourist destinations, products, and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical or intellectual limitations, disabilities or age. It encompasses publicly and privately ...

References

External links

*
Corporate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Visitbritain 2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Tourism organisations in the United Kingdom Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Department for Culture, Media and Sport Organizations established in 2003

See also

References

External links