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It doesn't matter which side of the pond they're on. The first stop for most consumers planning a trip is the Internet.

That's why VisitBritain, the United Kingdom's tourism board, is spending a good part of its annual U.S. marketing budget — now totaling $4 million — online. It wants to sway potential visitors as early as possible.

“All our research shows that the Web is the primary vehicle people are using today to research a destination,” says Rupert Peters, executive vice president for VisitBritain in the Americas. “We just don't want to be a reactive agency. We want to be the trigger in the decision-making process.”

VisitBritain, which has 36 offices worldwide, changed its name three years ago from the British Tourism Authority. “It's a modern reflection of who we are and where we want to go,” Peters explains.

The biggest single audience?

French and German tourists are visiting the United Kingdom more than they once did, thanks to the surge in low-cost airlines. But when it comes to spending, “the U.S. is still the most important market,” Peters says.

VisitBritain's best U.S. prospects are baby boomers, age 45 to 60 — among other things, they're educated and affluent. But Generations X and Y are on the radar too. “We have a number of sub-segments in those groupings,” Peters adds. “For example, we run microcampaigns targeting the gay and lesbian market.”

However, the primary market segmentation is between consumers and businesses. “Consumers are probably the mainstay of our marketing efforts, but business travelers spend far more per day than leisure travelers,” he says.

In 2005, a record year, the United Kingdom hosted 30 million tourists. U.S. travelers contributed $4.7 billion of the $27.3 billion travelers spent overall. And while complete 2006 figures weren't available at press time, Peters estimates that the number of visitors rose by 7% and the monetary total by 8%.

So how does VisitBritain reach U.S. travelers?

Online, it utilizes search, pay-per-click advertising and content-distribution deals with newspapers in key demographic areas — i.e., The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

“One of the surprising things is that California is our biggest source state,” says Peters. Next is New York. “I like to think you've got to travel a little bit to get a bit of quality.”

In addition, VisitBritain has a database of 2 million travelers, including roughly 550,000 who've opted in to receive e-mail communications. Visitors to the site are asked their age, where they live, their interests and other psychographic and demographic data that's useful in targeting messages.

Tailored e-zines are sent every other month to tourists who want to read about famly travel, gay and lesbian interests, music, history and heritage.

VisitBritain does not book travel directly — that's done by third-party vendors. But it does offer value-added products like the Oyster Card, a transit pass providing the cheapest fare on the Tube subway system any day or time of the week.

“We think it's a good thing for us to sell those cards, because one of our main challenges is obviously [providing] a good value equation because of the weakness of the dollar — or the strength of the sterling, depending on how you look at it,” says Peters. “Britain can be perceived as being an expensive destination, so we need to combat that.”

The card, which is sold outside the United Kingdom exclusively by VisitBritain, is being promoted in e-mail newsletters and can be purchased on the Web site. Who buys it? One group is people interested in cities.

“When we talk about London and the fact that all the museums and galleries in London are free, [we mention] that the best way of getting around London is on the Tube,” Peters says. “Get your Oyster Card and you can get the best rate.”

Peters acknowledges that this is easier to publicize if someone has an understanding of the English capital's transportation system. So VisitBritain's site includes a beginners' guide to using the card and the Tube.

Direct mail is a small part of the marketing mix. Last year VisitBritain participated in Treasure Chest, a co-op mailing of vacation offers. It purchased about half a million addresses profiled to match various segments — like people with a high propensity to travel who've been to Europe in the last three to five years. The inserts advertised the country's four “iconic destination brands under the umbrella of Britain, England, Scotland, Wales and London,” says Peters.

VisitBritain may not have the budget for television advertising. But it gets TV exposure for Britain through travel programs and public relations.

A new print campaign debuted late last month in key lifestyle and epicurean magazines like Departures, Gourmet, Town & Country Travel and Spa Finder. It features a dedicated 800 number and URL (www.visitbritain.com/us) and a call to action.

Newspaper advertising is typically done with partners. For example, VisitBritain has run campaigns with American Airlines in which the carrier offered last-minute airfare deals and the tourism board provided information about the destinations.

Half of VisitBritain's U.S. marketing budget comes from partnership funding.

“Part of our raison d'être is that we must work in partnership with and effectively lead the industry where appropriate,” Peters notes.

Who are the partners?

Some are travel companies like American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Others are national tourist offices in Britain like VisitScotland, VisitWales and VisitLondon. “They have budgets to promote themselves in the U.S. market, but they work in partnership with us to make sure the message about Britain is coordinated,” Peters says.

VisitBritain is also partnering with AOL this year to promote Jamestown 2007, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the United States on the banks of Virginia. The group is working with the British Commemoration Tourism Partnership to create a campaign centering on genealogy. AOL is trying to match names on a listing of the country's first 400 settlers with surnames on its database, with the goal of drumming up interest in both U.S. and U.K. travel. Online banners will be used to direct U.S. consumers with British surnames to VisitBritain's ancestral tourism site.