The BTA is seeking a follow-up strategy to the £45m 'UK:OK' and 'Only in Britain' campaigns that ran this year to help bring back tourism.
Revealing his plans for 2003/4, BTA chief executive Tom Wright said: "Immediate plans centre on a strongly-branded destination campaign ... focusing especially on the 12 UK cities that were being considered for European City of Culture in 2008."
The BTA thinks the marketing nous of British cities can attract foreign visitors and convince Brits to take second holidays here, rather than abroad. It hopes to emulate the success that Glasgow's 1990 capital of culture status had on Scottish tourism.
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle/Gateshead and Oxford have now been shortlisted for Britain's culture capital bid.
The BTA's plans emerged on the day that culture secretary Tessa Jowell announced a merger of the BTA and English Tourism Council, in what was described as a "defining moment for British tourism."
Analysis, page 15.
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