The Royal Maritime Hotel and The Isle of Wight Team Up to Boost Tourism

The group tour organisers were part of AGTO (the Association of Group Tour Organisers) who regularly organise group trips to destinations all over the world.

The main objective of the FAM trip was to promote long-stay visitors to the region and to showcase the diversity of attractions located in Portsmouth and on the Isle of Wight. Central to the FAM trip was to promote the easy links between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight and to drive overnight visitors to the region. According to Wendy Sealy, the hotel’s marketing manager, ‘Portsmouth is mainly known as a place to visit for the day, and we want people to see that Portsmouth has so many attractions that you could spend a whole week here and still not run out of things to do’.

The group was hosted at the Royal Maritime Hotel and spent two (2) days visiting the D-Day Story, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the Spinnaker Tower and Gunwharf Quays.

The group was ferried to the Isle of Wight by Wightlink and while there they visited the Steam Railway, the Donkey Sanctuary, and the Needles where they had the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular views on the chairlift and were treated to a glass-making demonstration. The group returned to Portsmouth via the Hovercraft. The Hovercraft is the only all-year operational Hovercraft in the world where you fly over the water at speeds up to 40 knots.

According to Ian and Vivian Kenny at Real Socialising, ‘We have gained so much…. not least the fabulous location of the Royal Maritime Hotel, the excellent service from all the team and first-class food...! Thanks to the Historic Dockyard, D-Day Museum and Spinnaker Tower, Visit Isle of Wight and The Needles for making us so welcome and all the other locations and organisations that supported this FAM visit’.