Hilton Worldwide has confirmed that it has established a founding partnership with national tourism agency VisitBritain in a bid to increase awareness of the UK's visitor experience.

The new agreement aims to build upon Hilton's own plans for growth in the UK market, as well as complementing the government's efforts to drive tourism as a key industry. It is hoped that the tourism agency's new global £100m programme will encourage an extra 2 million visitors from overseas, as well as a further £2m in tourism expenditure in the UK.

Hilton Worldwide and VisitBritain will work together on multi-channel marketing, sales and public relations initiatives over an initial two-year period for an undisclosed sum. VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe said: "Partnering with Hilton gives us the opportunity to showcase England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to their fantastic Britain-wide reach of hotels.

"Our aim is to give potential tourists a reason to visit now and having Hilton as a founding partner as we launch VisitBritain's wider £100m marketing programme will allow us to do just that." Simon Vincent, area president for Europe at Hilton Worldwide, added: "Great Britain is one of the world's outstanding destinations, for both business and leisure travel, and we are proud to be working alongside the government in showcasing this to the world."