GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund (Year 4) 2026/2027
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund forms part of VisitBritain’s international marketing plans for 2026/27. With the support of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, the Fund aims to provide financial assistance to nationally-accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs, England only) or regional Destination Management Organisations (DMOs, Scotland and Wales only), to deliver marketing activity in the United States.
- Opening date:
- Closing date: (Midday)
Contents
Summary
With the support of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign, the Fund provides financial assistance to nationally-accredited LVEPs (England only) or Regional DMOs (Scotland and Wales only), to deliver marketing activity in 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 VEP or DMO is required to inspire and rally a) the local industry; b) a minimum of three secondary destination partners; and, c) a minimum of one commercial partner 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 2026/27.
The aim is for the funded campaigns to be live in market between October 2026 and March 2027 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 'Experience Seekers' can be found https://www.visitbritain.org/our-marketing-and-campaigns
Eligibility
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund programme in 2026/27 aims to continue building 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 the United States. VisitBritain is looking to support either a LVEP (in England) or a regional DMO (in Scotland and Wales) to:
Promote and market your gateway/region and beyond, to an international consumer audience in the United States.
Applicants must have a year-round, direct route from the United States to the inbound airport of arrival serving their gateway destination.
Deliver a fully integrated consumer facing marketing campaign which could include third-party media buy and an influencer programme between October 2026 and March 2027, 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 a) local industry partners to get involved; b) a minimum of three secondary destination partners to support the dispersal message; and, c) a minimum of one commercial partner to support bookings.
The primary commercial booking partner must be either an airline 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. *The route must be an existing, direct route, with year-round flights available.
The applicant must 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.
The applicant must later 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 (whilst this may be challenging, VisitBritain is open to test / pilot approaches; and,
Production of a post-campaign media report.
Objectives
The GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund 2026/2027 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 VisitBritain's return on investment target of 12:1. 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
Grants Portal opens for applications – Monday, 21 September 2026
Closing date for applications in the Grants Portal – 11.59hrs (UK time) on Wednesday, 7 October 2026.
Applicants informed about the status of their application in w/c 19 October 2026.
Live dates between 1 November 2026 and 31 March 2027.
All funded activities must be fully completed and delivered by 31 March 2027.
How to apply
All applicants must follow the prospectus guidance which you can find on the VisitBritain website (see link above).
Applicants must register and apply on the VisitBritain/ VisitEngland Grants Portal.
Supporting information
Not applicable