VisitBritain is organising a marketing initiative -‘Sport is Great’ – to showcase football and fashion in  collaboration with one of the UK’s best known luxury department stores, Harvey Nichols in Dubai.

The campaign, which runs till May 20, was officially opened at Harvey Nichols Dubai store by UK Consul General to the UAE, Edward Hobart, unveiling its main attraction, UK’s National Football Museum pop-up exhibition.

The event will be showcasing a wide range of priceless displays, including the Bobby Moore shirt, a life-sized mannequin of Pele, the glorious FA Cup on display through-out the activity, and the Premier League Trophy providing a great photo opportunity for visitors to the store.

During the promotion, visitors to Harvey Nichols-Dubai will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and greet famous British football legends who will be making in-store appearances at different times, as well as a chance to win Premier League signed football t-shirts and the grand prize, a trip for two to the UK courtesy of Virgin Atlantic to watch a football match live!
 
"The Embassy is delighted to be part of this ‘Sport is Great’ initiative which showcases Britain as a world-class leader in fashion and sports.  Only last week we hosted ‘Grea Week UAE’ which put the spotlight on the best of British retail, luxury and design," said Hobart.
 
"The collaboration between the British partners present here today provides an excellent opportunity for our friends in the UAE to find out more about Britain, and encourages them to explore it for themselves," he added.

As well as the exciting exhibition, a wide range of football merchandise will be on sale in The National Football Museum on Level 3 of the store.  Mugs, scarfs, hats and games branded by Great British teams including Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are available for the football fanatic.

For something a little different, there is vintage replica shirts, training jackets and signed shirts and just in time for the World Cup 2014, a range of Brazil 2014 items will be available.

Sumathi Ramanathan, the regional manager for Asia Pacific and Middle East said: “Through this partnership, VisitBritain aims to build on the growing importance of British Football, a key attraction to Emiratis visiting Britain. We know there is an increase in demand for British tourist products in the region, and with our partners we are working towards broadening our offering."

"Including UK’s National Football Museum in this activity will showcase to potential travellers the quality and diversity of attractions available in Britain for visitors from this region,” she stated.

Sports tourism is on the rise in Britain, she said citing the results from a survey conducted by VisitBritain which revealed that 750,000 visitors to the UK attend a football match every year.

Among those, visitors from UAE ranked second after Norway as most likely to attend a football match: one in every 20 do so. Moreover, the UAE ranks in the top five countries, globally, with interest in the Barclay’s Premier League.

VisitBritain said it is partnering with Virgin Atlantic and The Travel Attaché, the Middle East’s premier luxury travel specialist, to promote a wide range of travel packages to potential travellers visiting Harvey Nicholas-Dubai during the ‘Sport is Great’ month.

Brad West, the country manager for Virgin Atlantic said this month long promotion provides an opportunity to build awareness around the diverse tourism platform Great Britain has to offer.

"And now with Virgin Atlantic flying to Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh via London Heathrow, they’re all a little bit closer to the UAE,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service