TOURIST TRADE IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27303, 20 March 1954, Page 7

TOURIST TRADE IN BRITAIN

Provincial Night Life “Unbearably Dull”

. LONDON, March 18. Life outside London was unbearably dull at night for overseas said Sir Alexander Maxwell, chairman of the British Holidays and Travel Association, in discussing plans for attracting more tourists to Britain this year. “There is no fun after 11 p.m., the only thing left is to yawn from boredom and go to bed,” he said. This was the weak spot in Britain’s appeal to tourists, he said. Otherwise, the holiday business was “doing fine.” It had earned £500,000,000 in the five years to 1953. “But many visitors complain about the dullness of the provincial even-

ings. We get complaints that even in our liveliest resorts people are more or less compelled, by lack of entertainment, to go to bed by 10.30 or 11 p.m. “.To many visitors, especially from the Continent, the evening should be

just beginning at this time. “It is not merely a question of the licensing laws. But, of course, these do make life unnecessarily difficult for many people who wish to enjoy themselves in a normal way, rather than cramming as many drinks as they can before the fatal hour of 11 p.m.”‘ Sir Alexander said the association was trying out television for selling travel to America, and had commissioned short films on subjects like “Racing with Royalty,” and “Pageantry in London.”