Tenerife Tourism Corporation's #BigWarmHug campaign has exceeded all expectations in its first week of launch, reaching over two million people on Twitter, nearly 59,000 on Facebook and receiving more than 6,000 'likes' on Instagram in just seven days. The #BigWarmHug campaign was devised to demonstrate the people of Tenerife's love and appreciation for their European friends in the UK, regardless of whether or not the country remains in the EU.
The initiative, which has been primarily promoted via social media channels, has also received a very positive impact from UK consumers and travel industry professionals, who have been uploading images with the #BigWarmHug print on social media. The campaign has reached over 186,000 UK residents on Facebook alone.
The campaign has been supported throughout the island with thousands of Tenerife locals, including the tourist industry (including hoteliers and theme parks), the players of the Tenerife Football Club, golf club members, shop-keepers, taxi drivers and scuba diving instructors joining the campaign by uploading images on social media together with loving comments aimed at British citizens.
The Tenerife Tourism Corporation has also made a fun video, available on YouTube, summarising activity from the first week of the campaign – including images of Tenerife's President, Carlos Alonso, embracing a British citizen at the launch of the initiative. In reference to the campaign, which is fully backed by the Tenerife Island Government, Mr. Alonso commented: “Our aim was to launch a warm and friendly campaign based on a hugging theme to communicate to all British people that they can count on us no matter what.”
Alberto Bernabeé, Tourism Minister for the Tenerife Island Government added: “The relationship between Tenerife and the UK is like a love story and this is why we wanted to give a virtual hug to our British friends to demonstrate our love and support of them.”
Tenerife's connections with the UK date back to the 19th century, when the first Brits arrived to the largest of the Canary Islands. These ties have become stronger and stronger over the years and, nowadays, Tenerife receives 1.7 million British visitors annually, making the UK its largest and most important source market.
