Iconic attractions given Chinese appeal

Attractions across the region have been chosen to star in a new marketing campaign by national tourism agency VisitBritian.

They are being used to encourage Chinese people to learn more about Britain by giving places and experiences they might not be familiar with a new Chinese name.

The campaign invites them to come up with the most fitting, meaningful and memorable Chinese names for British places, events, and things

In China it is already popular to give very Chinese names to favourite foreign celebrities, places and foods.

As an example popular British actor and Sherlock Holmes star, Benedict Cumberbatch, has been affectionately named “Curly Fu” by his Chinese fans.

Now tourism bosses want them to do the same with place names over here and have selected 101 across the country for the Great Names and Great Britain campaign.

Among others they include Whitby, Fountains Abbey, York’s Shambles, Castle Howard, Malham Cove, Hadrian’s Wall and Holy Island.

VisitBritain marketing director Joss Croft said:“Naming is very popular in China and this is a fun way of getting Chinese people to think about and describe places and experiences across Britain, especially as some of the British names are difficult to translate or pronounce in Chinese.

“This campaign will raise the profile of Yorkshire among Chinese consumers and drive increased visits from this valuable tourism market.”

He added; “We would love local communities to get behind the campaign and suggest other places and locations to rename via our hashtag #greatnames.”

The campaign hopes to attract more visitors from the rapidly-growing tourism Chinese market and encourage them to travel further afield around Britain.

In 2013 Britain welcomed 196,000 visits from China - up 10 per cent on 2012 – who contributed £492m to the UK’s economy.

The Chinese are also big spenders, forking out an average of £2,508 per visit compared to the overall average spend of £640 per visit.