Marketing Manchester

Manchester is the 3rd most visited tourist city in the UK, and is currently enjoying a rapid period of transformation and growth in popularity. The city regularly finds itself on ‘best places to travel’ lists from top international travel publications, and is now widely seen as the fastest growing city in Europe.

Marketing Manchester serves as the city’s tourism board, and over recent years has done excellent work in promoting Manchester as a hub of tourism, business and study.
Following several behind the scenes meetings with The Essential English Centre and Marketing Manchester over the past year, in April 2025 Directors Jo and Bairbre convened a meeting between several accredited Manchester schools, Marketing Manchester, and English UK.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how English language schools in the city can be a part of the exceptional work that Marketing Manchester is doing to showcase the city as a top global destination. The meeting was chaired by Nick Brooks-Sykes (Director of Tourism at Marketing Manchester and Vice-Chair of the Tourism Alliance), and was attended by Susie Palmer (Commercial Partnerships Manchester, Marketing Manchester) Huan Japes (Membership Director, English UK, Jo and Bairbre (Directors, The Essential English Centre) and representatives from six accredited English language schools in the city.

This meeting produced a productive and valuable discussion, and is a ‘first’ for the ELT industry in Manchester. Jo and Bairbre are proud to have kickstarted this project, and look forward to overseeing next steps in this innovative and exciting partnership.