Great Britain takes on the starring role in new campaign

If you only see one movie in 2025, make sure it’s Starring Great Britain.

Top notch production values. Tightly edited. Action. Drama. Romance. Humour.

A blockbuster film for the ages … and, not surprisingly, another finely put together campaign by VisitBritain that’s being rolled out around the world now to capitalize on the increasing popularity of screen tourism.

In Toronto yesterday (March 5) a select group of travel trade types joined British High Commissioner to Canada, Robert Tinline and British Consul General Toronto, Fouzia Younis MBE at the residence of the British Consul General Toronto to preview Starring Great Britain and learn more about the goal of the new campaign.

The Starring Great Britain campaign is designed to drive inbound tourism across Britain, and the launch film that kicks things off makes Britain the star of the show.

Drawing on iconic film and TV moments from Mission: Impossible to Bridget Jones; Spider-Man to Succession; House of the Dragon to Harry Potter; Paddington to Fast & Furious to Mary Poppins Returns and more, the film takes viewers on a cinematic journey through Britain, giving them a front row seat to the destinations at the heart of the on-screen action.

Directed by Academy Award-winning British director Tom Hooper, the film is supported by a wider advertising campaign which is underway across the UK’s largest and most valuable inbound visitor markets including Australia, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, France, Germany and the USA.

The British High Commissioner to Canada, Robert Tinline said at the Toronto gathering that the campaign “is about iconic locations in the United Kingdom.”

Fouzia Younis, British Consul General Toronto observed that the “real star of the show is the U.K.,” and pointing out that the “U.K. has such diversity and there is so much more to see beyond London.”

With more than a million Canadians visiting the U.K. each year, VisitBritain’s International Director, Gavin Landry praised the “strong and mighty” efforts of the Canadian team, telling his audience that with the launch of the Starring Great Britain campaign, the destination is “going from strength to strength.”

The launch of the new campaign comes as VisitBritain’s screen tourism research shows that more than 9-out-of-10 potential visitors to the UK would be keen to visit film and TV locations during a trip.

The ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign, part of the UK Government’s GREAT campaign, has been developed working in close collaboration with the national tourism boards of England (VisitEngland), Scotland (VisitScotland), Wales (Visit Wales) as well as London & Partners.

Inbound tourism is one of the UK’s most valuable service exports and a major part of British trade, worth an estimated £32.5 billion to the economy in 2024 in visitor spending.

Go to https://www.greatcampaign.com for more.

In the Photo 

Seen at the premiere of Starring Great Britain, from l to r, are British High Commissioner, Robert Tinline; VisitBritain’s International Director, Gavin Landry; British Consul General Toronto, Fouzia Younis; and TIFF CEO, Cameron Bailey.