2026 Destination Marketing Activities

On this page we summarise our key 2026 Destination Marketing activities.  Destination Marketing projects are delivered in partnership with professional agencies and specialist contractors in order to secure best value and fast turnaround when required.

Paid digital campaigns - you can take a look at our live Meta campaigns by visiting the free to access Meta Ad Library here.  In addition, a year-round 'Always On' campaign runs on Google Search and Display.

The English Riviera features frequently in magazines, news articles and online. A selection of free to view online articles are included over on our Press & Media page and our most recent national press releases are here: ERBID Press Releases.

October 2026

Bay of Lights campaigning is underway, with a focus on encouraging overnight stays: "Stay for the Sparkle".  Meta ads using panoramic drone imagery are performing particularly well.
Dog-friendly campaigning continues to do well, and dog-friendly messaging will be repeated next year.

September 2026

Family-targeted ads have now been paused, with remaining campaigns moving to shoulder-season and autumn creatives. 
Dog-friendly and 'Best of Devon' angles perform well.
Planning for Bay of Lights and 2027 continues.  The Seafood Feast campaign is running on Google until early October.

Visitor e-newsletter: Bay of Lights

August 2026

The Families campaign is performing ahead of last year.  The campaign will continue until the end of the month and will make use of the extended warm weather.
For the Couples campaign, walking and hiking continue to be strong themes.  
Google Trends - interest for "English Riviera" hit the maximum 100 points in August 2026, which is the highest score we have recorded, indicating strong awareness-building efforts.
Work has begun on planning for Bay of Lights campaigning, and also looking ahead to planning 2027's Marketing Campaigns.

July 2026

Families campaign:
GoogleAds are performing well, indicating effective audience targeting.  Similarly, TikTok performance is showing strong awareness and engagement since the campaign began.
Responding to the excellent weather forecasts, we have run heatwave-specific ads which had a high click-through rate.
Couples campaign:
The focus on dog-friendly holidays continues to perform well on Meta.
Google search performance is strong for coastal, car-free, and dog-friendly terms.
There has been a significant spike in searches for "where is the English Riviera" since February 2026.
 

June 2026

Mid-year update on the ERBID’s 2026 Destination Marketing ‘Escape your Everyday’ campaigns for the English Riviera:

Our focus is to keep the English Riviera firmly in the spotlight and attract more visitors to the area.
Encouragingly, research shows that we continue to perform strongly against other destinations across the South West.

• We are delivering a multi-channel approach, with campaigns running across TV, Google, Microsoft and Meta, and new for 2026, expanded activity on YouTube and TikTok.
• Total video views this year across all platforms, including linear TV, have already exceeded 8.5 million.
• Our digital paid and organic activity has generated over 16.2 million impressions from potential visitors.
• Interest in ‘English Riviera’ as a search term reached its highest point within Google Trends’ five-year history in May 2026.

FAMILIES

Some highlights from our families campaign include:

• A 30% increase in time spent on site* via Google Ads.
• Over 2 million video views on TikTok since the start of April 2026.
• Our May Half Term campaign saw a 48% increase in investment year-on-year, delivering a 74% increase in clicks and 167% increase in conversions.

*englishriviera.co.uk is the official visitor website for the English Riviera, operated by the ERBID Co.  All our digital marketing activity directs potential visitors here to research and plan their trip.
Every ERBID levy-paying business has a dedicated page on the site, with a link to its own website.

COUPLES

Key highlights from our couples campaign:

• The introduction of linear TV means that our ads appear around shows including This Morning, The Chase, Coronation Street and Emmerdale (you can view an example here of the English Riviera advert playing in a break during the ITV Evening News in the ITV West area.)
• Having started the couples campaign earlier this year than last, we are seeing users from Bristol up 84% year on year.  Direct traffic is up 98% and organic traffic up 60% - two sources we typically associate with heightened awareness of the brand.
• In May, key events (users clicking ‘Search, Plan And Book') are up 93% from this target area.

COUPLES (SOUTH EAST)

• This new campaign for 2026 is performing strongly, with ads generating over 1.7 million impressions.
• Due to targeting these new areas, we have seen a 100% increase in traffic to the site from Reading, 196% increase from Slough and a 29% increase in London.

Visitor e-newsletter: Summer 2026

Press coverage Q2 April - June 2026

Total pieces of coverage = 18
Total opportunities to see = 89,100,000
Total number of press releases = 5
View or download the full report here.

May 2026

Our latest marketing campaigns continue to deliver strong results and are helping drive more interest in the English Riviera.

Families Campaign

• Our new TikTok advertising has made a very strong start, reaching 1.8 million views in its first few weeks
• ITVx advertising has over-delivered on impressions
• A new heatwave campaign has been launched to make the most of the good weather forecast

Couples Campaign

• The Bristol market is performing particularly well, with users up 82% year-on-year
• YouTube campaign is performing well, with more people watching adverts in full
• ITVx advertising has over-delivered on impressions.  ITV linear advertising is on track to deliver more than 3.6 million impressions by the end of May.  
• Our South-East campaign has seen an increase in traffic from key targeted areas including Reading and Slough.

April 2026

Both the families and the couples campaigns continue on TV and digital, with the couples campaign pushing into the Reading and Greater London area. ITV linear adverts continue to be around programming including Coronation Street, The Chase, This Morning, and Emmerdale.  In April, the families campaign has seen an increase in Midlands traffic of 6 - 8%, and a 23% increase in conversions from Google Ads.  Also with the families campaign, we have introduced TikTok advertising - marking our first step into paid activity on the platform.  SUP World Cup advertising has been extended into the leisure market and the English Riviera Walking Festival digital campaign continues.

March 2026

The start of the month saw the launch of our couples campaign on linear and view-on-demand TV, and across digital channels.  Digital campaigning for the SUP World Cup targeting watersports fans began mid-month (with a campaign targeting the leisure sector to begin in April).  Digital ads to boost the May half term break launched later in the month.
 

Press coverage Q1 January - March 2026

Total pieces of coverage = 32
Total opportunities to see = 125,459,612
Total number of press releases = 7
View or download the full report here.

February 2026

Our ERBID national destination marketing campaign for 2026 officially launched on 16th February, with the first wave of family-focused TV and digital advertising.  This first campaign is aimed at families with young children in the Midlands. 

As in 2025, we are delivering a multi-channel approach.  Activity includes TV, Google, Microsoft, Meta and programmatic advertising.  For 2026, we are also introducing campaigns on YouTube and TikTok, allowing us to broaden our reach and engage audiences in new and effective ways.

TV advertising will continue to use the video assets developed last year, reinforcing our brand awareness (you can view the videos on YouTube here).  The adverts will feature on ITVX for both families and couples, and on ITV1 for the couples campaign.  This places the English Riviera alongside popular programming such as Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Loose Women.  We anticipate that this strategy will deliver more than 6.5 million TV impressions, significantly boosting awareness of the destination at a national level.

*Part of the budget for these campaigns has been made possible by South West Water Recovery Marketing funding, following the impact of negative Cryptosporidium reporting.

Other digital campaigns this month began for the Easter break and for the Walking Festival.

January 2026

The ERBID team has been working closely with our marketing partners, Chalk & Ward, to finalise plans for our 2026 TV and digital campaigns.  Building on the successful structure of last year's work, family-focused campaigns will run from mid-February, followed by a spotlight on couples aged 50+ from mid-March.  Our campaigns will also highlight key English Riviera events, including the Walking Festival and SUP World Cup, while continuing to showcase our exceptional destination and encourage overnight stays.