VisitBritain pushes northern England, brings Emirates Old Trafford to India

Steeped in cricket history, the 156-year old Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester is ready to woo cricket fans from India. The Department of International Trade UK along with VisitBritain welcomed the Lancashire Cricket team and introduced Emirates Old Trafford to key travel trade professionals in Mumbai at the official British High Commission residence recently. Daniel G. Gidney, Chief Executive Office, Lancashire Cricket and Emirates Old Trafford, who led the delegation to India, spoke about how this can be promoted as a tourism product. He said, “It was earlier this year that we hosted six cricket World Cup games at the Emirates Old Trafford and it was really the India-Pakistan game that really showed us the huge passion and interest that India has in cricket. We look forward to welcoming India back to Emirates Old Trafford in 2021 for the England v India Test Match and the England v India IT20 game the following year. We are creating a number of packages to capture the atmosphere of international cricket and will include hotel packages, official ticket inclusive hospitality packages and bespoke travel agent packages.” Emirates Old Trafford has a Hilton Garden Inn in its premises. It has 150 rooms, 85 of them overlooking the Lancashire cricket pitch. It also has a conference and MICE facilities.

Shuja Bin Mehdi, B2B Manager, India, VisitBritain, says, “Since the past five years we have been focussing on the north of England and trying to develop it as a tourism offering in India. Manchester is the gateway to the north and we have been working with Marketing Manchester since the past few years. We are trying to encourage the travel trade to push their clients towards this region – Manchester, Liverpool, York and Lake District. Some of the best city experiences as well as the best countryside of England you can do here. These destinations will also work exceptionally well with the Indian market. You can easily have anywhere between five to ten night itinerary for this. Manchester is also one of the best connected cities from India. So you can have an open-jaw itinerary where you get into Manchester and fly out of London.”