GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund 2025
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund forms part of Visit Britain’s international marketing plans for 2025/26. With the support of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, the Fund aims to provide financial assistance to UK-registered DDPs (England only), LVEPs (England only) or regional DMOs (only in Scotland and Wales), to deliver marketing activity in either France and/or the United States. The Fund seeks to drive marketing innovation by focusing on a specific inbound gateway or region in Great Britain which has a direct port of passenger entry (whether an airport, a seaport or fixed rail link) and encouraging dispersal beyond that point.
- Opening date: (Midday)
- Closing date: (Midday)
Contents
Summary
With the support of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, the Fund provides financial assistance to UK-registered DDPs (England only), LVEPs (England only) or Regional DMOs (only in Scotland and Wales), to deliver marketing activity in either France and/or the United States.
The Fund focuses marketing innovation by targeting a specific inbound gateway or region in Great Britain which has a direct port of passenger entry, then encouraging dispersal beyond that point
The DDP, LVEP or DMO is required to inspire and rally a) the local industry, b) a secondary destination partner, c) a commercial partner with an airline, ferry or train service to unlock matched investment, to extend the marketing campaign and reach a bigger audience. Working in collaboration with these partners, applicants will need to develop an international consumer marketing campaign that showcases the very best of that region, encourages dispersal beyond, to an experience seeker audience motivating them to travel to Great Britain in 2025/26
The aim is for the funded campaigns to be live in market between November 2025 and March 2026 encouraging travel in the shoulder season to support seasonal objectives.
The target audience are ‘Experience Seekers’, who are the best prospect segment and who want to squeeze the most out of every second whilst on holiday. Willing to spend on travel and experiences, they are passionate about travel, they love discovering new, unique, exciting experiences that they can share with others. They want to get ahead of the curve and be seen as a trailblazer, seeking out immersive experiences that allow them to see, taste and discover unique activities, places and people
Full details on the Experience-Seekers can be found https://www.visitbritain.org/our-marketing-and-campaigns
Eligibility
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund programme in 2025/26, aims to continue to build on the success of previous years and support industry in promoting inbound tourism to a specific British gateway destination or region, then disperse beyond, for international visitors from France and/ or the United States. VisitBritain is looking to support either a DDP, LVEP or regional DMO to;
Promote and market your gateway/region and beyond, to an international consumer audience in France and/or the USA .
Deliver a fully integrated consumer facing marketing campaign (this could include third-party media buy, influencer programme etc) between November 2025 and March 2026 (this will be based on when you are aiming to fill a gap in capacity).
Align to VisitBritain’s ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, Film/TV campaign.
The applicant must inspire and rally:
Local industry to get involved
A secondary destination partner to support the dispersal message
A commercial partner to support bookings
The primary commercial booking partner must be either a transport carrier (airline, ferry or train operator) or an airport. If an airport, either the destination and/or the airport must be the lead party in terms of the campaign creative and messaging. For creative reasons, multiple airlines flying to the same destination cannot be featured in the campaign. Supporting partners can be made up of industry of your choice. *The route must be an existing route, with a minimum of 4 weekly direct flights/ferries/trains etc
Augment the gateway/region marketing campaign budget with additional cash co-financing contributions and monetised in kind financial contributions. For every £1 in grant funds, prospective applicants will be required to secure a further minimum of £2 made up of a minimum 50 pence in cash co-financing contributions and an additional 150 pence in the value of monetised in-kind contributions from participating from campaign partners. Cash co-financing contributions should be sourced from either private sector companies and/or local authorities but not from central government departments’ schemes.
Provide post-campaign quantitative evaluation results from the executed marketing activities, including;
Volume and value of consumer bookings generated from incremental visitors
Measurement of the dispersal from your access /gateway point (we appreciate this can be a challenge but are open to test/pilot approaches)
Post Campaign Media Report
Objectives
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund 2025 seeks to drive marketing innovation by focusing on a specific inbound gateway or region in Great Britain, and encouraging dispersal beyond that point, by driving consumers to choose these destinations for their next holiday. This will contribute to VisitBritains return on investment target of 13:1. Having the industry deliver this as a partnership we aim to create a consistent message, showcasing the very best of the region and surrounding areas.
Dates
Call for applications to the GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund 2025:
Friday 25 July 2025, midday 12:00pm.
Closing date for applications with supporting letters of commitment:
Thursday 18 September 2025, midday 12:00pm.
Grant award set-up and contracting meetings will be held by video call (up to 45 minutes) with each successful applicant:
Week commencing Monday October 6 2025.
Any applications received after midday on the closing date will not be considered. Applications will not be assessed on a first come first served basis but rather against the eligibility and scoring assessment criteria.
The full timeline including claim and reporting dates are set out in the Gateway Innovation Prospectus where there is also a contact email. Please access the prospectus, application details and further information on the VisitBritain website.
How to apply
Please follow the link to the VisitBritain corporate website for all information required to apply. This includes the full prospectus on VisitBritain.org. Registration will be required to complete and submit the application form on the VisitBritain Grants Portal.
Supporting information
The application form, prospectus and further information can be found on the VisitBritain corporate website: VisitBritain Gateway Innovation Fund 2025/26 Applicants must register to complete an application for submission on the VisitBritain Grants Portal.