Visit Manchester to partner with Lancashire Cricket
Lancashire Cricket has announced a new partnership with Visit Manchester, the official tourist board for Manchester and Greater Manchester, as the club’s official destination partner.
The new agreement will see Visit Manchester work closely with the club to drive visitors and spend to the Greater Manchester area, focusing on the high-profile cricket fixtures and award-winning Emirates Old Trafford venue.
As part of the agreement the Visit Manchester brand will become the lead partner on the club’s Royal London One-Day Cup shirt.
Marketing Manchester, which is responsible for the Visit Manchester brand, is the agency charged with promoting Greater Manchester on the national and international stage to visitors, investors, conference organisers and students.
As the region’s destination marketing organisation, Visit Manchester will align with Lancashire Cricket’s principal partner, Emirates, and official hotel partner, Hilton Garden Inn, in ensuring that the club now has a complete partner offering that position’s Greater Manchester as a global destination, aiming to build awareness, generate increased income and stays in the city and Greater Manchester area.
The opening partnership activation will see the Visit Manchester brand and campaign as part of the team’s pre-season tour to Dubai, which is now part of a wider campaign that Visit Manchester is running with Visit Britain, and is part of a year’s worth of activation in Dubai to promote tourism in Manchester.
Daniel Gidney, chief executive of Lancashire Cricket, said: “We’re delighted that Visit Manchester has partnered with the club, as it’s an exciting and historic year for us.
“This year, we’re hosting a festival of cricket, including six ICC Cricket World Cup matches and the fourth Specsavers Ashes Test, and we see this as a perfect partnership to tie in with the club’s vision to create the best place to enjoy cricket in the world, and attract even more visitors to the North West.
“We have a common objective of showcasing Manchester and the North West as one of the best cities and regions to visit in the UK, and this partnership will only enhance this.”
Following the new high profile match appointment, announced in 2018, Lancashire Cricket will see more than one million visitors to the ground over the course of 61 days of top level major matches between the years 2020-24, of which the direct economic benefit to Manchester is estimated to be worth more than £83m.
Sheona Southern, managing director at Marketing Manchester, said: “This is an exciting partnership that will strengthen Greater Manchester’s unequivocal position as a globally sporting destination and is perfectly timed ahead of both LCC’s upcoming 2018 Tour Dubai taking place in one of our key international markets, and the global cricket matches at Emirates Old Trafford this Summer.
“With the pull and influencer of a world-class cricket team, one of the world’s most successful airlines and a hotel brand of such enormous prestige, this partnership has the potential to open up some fantastic new international engagement opportunities for Greater Manchester and we could not be in better company from a brand alignment point of view.”
Visit Manchester now joins the club’s family of sponsors including global brands such as Emirates, Hilton, Heineken, Thomas Cook Sport, UA92 and Kukri as Lancashire Cricket continues to grow its commercial revenues to a record level.
