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England Originals

England’s Originals brings together a selection of England’s historic cities, into five pre-bundled rail itineraries. Quirky historic stories, fun facts and amazingly instagrammable locations; for the very first time York along with 15 of England’s top ranked historic cities including London, have come together to market themselves in the United States.

With a focus on London as a departure point, each itinerary aims to present a group of cities and show a fascinating slice of England’s heritage. From browsing medieval shopping malls, to making your own gin, or visiting the coast to coast wall built to keep the neighbours out – there are 3000 years of history to choose from. The project has also developed an app which allows visitors to benefit from augmented reality interaction with at key historical landmarks in each of the key cities.

Download the England Originals app here.

Target audience: US pre-nesters 25-34 years, consumer and the travel trade

Who is involved: 15 historic cities, plus the City of London, English Heritage

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Easy to complete in four days, York is one of three cities featured in the specially themed, Treasure Trove Tour, just one of the five themed tours on offer.

And in addition to the itineraries, new augmented reality will shine a light on York, with tales uncovered by BBC historian Jonathan Foyle. Via the England’s Historic Cities mobile phone app, customers can explore York prior to arrival with a 3D model of the city and as you hover over an attraction such as York Minster, Jonathan will tell stories of the attraction.

The four other England Original tours are: Thinkers and Writers Tour which visits Oxford Worcester and Stratford Upon Avon; the Time Travellers Tour which visits Greenwich, Canterbury and Cambridge; the Wall to Wall Tour which visits Chester, Lancaster and Carlisle; and the Western Wonders Tour which visits Truro, Bath and Salisbury. It’s also possible to combine the tours, allowing customers to visit numerous cities.

Currently ongoing are the trade and media familiarisation trips in order to promote the tour. 15 York businesses are onboard with the project. Heritage cornerstone for York in this project is JORVIK Viking Centre.