6 April 2005

Visit Britain and Leisure Pass Group create Joint Venture for Great British Heritage Pass

Smart Technology to be introduced in 2006

	Angus Rankine, Founding Director of the Leisure Pass Group and Tom Wright, Chief Executive of Visit Britain, agree upon the joint venture for the Great British Heritage Pass

The Leisure Pass Group and Visit Britain are pleased to announce a joint venture for the Great British Heritage Pass. For the last 30 years, GBHP has allowed visitors entry to ancient fortresses, castles, monuments, royal residences and stately homes. The properties contained in the GBHP are either privately owned or in care of organisations such as English Heritage, National Trust, and the Historic Houses Association, amongst others.

GBHP contains nearly 600 participating properties and attractions, all offering free entry to the visitor, and is available for 4, 7, 15 days or 1 month. It is available to all international visitors and is sold in 27 countries, as well as in 50 Tourist Information Centres across Britain.

Angus Rankine, Founding Director of LPG, commented, “We are delighted to have been invited to work on the most established tourism pass in the world. We are looking forward to building on its thirty year pedigree selling and introducing new technology that will allow it to get up to date.”

Minette Bellingan-Stoneman, Business Development Manager from the Visit Britain Enterprises Unit stated, “LPG are leaders in the implementation and development of leisure passes and we have chosen them on account of their expertise and knowledge. We look forward to the continued development of GBHP and to working in partnership with LPG.”

With expertise in the field of leisure passes, including the London Pass, New York Pass, York Pass, Dublin Pass and Philadelphia Pass, LPG will provide VB with the expertise needed to continue developing the GBHP. This includes building the smart technology for the GBHP, which will be introduced in 2006. LPG, in association with VB, will develop the marketing strategy and relationships with the properties.

LPG will be looking to significantly develop additional sales channels for GBHP. Working together with VB, the total number of sales agents worldwide will increase to 220, which is an increase of over 60% on current levels. The GBHP will additionally gain greater exposure from its presence on both LPG’s and VB’s websites.