U.K. Earned £321 Million From Tourism Last Year

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31188, 12 October 1966, Page 9

U.K. Earned £321 Million From Tourism Last Year

(from the London Correspondent o! "The Press")

LONDON, October 8.

More than 2,776,000 overseas visitors came to Britain last year—an increase of 13 per cent over 1964—and the money earned from these visitors, including fares paid, totalled £321 million.

These facts were given in the annual report of the British Travel Association, Britain’s official tourist organisation, published recently.

The report said that in the 20 years since the British Travel Association began its post-war “Come to Britain” campaign, tourism has establishment itself as one of

the country’s biggest earners of foreign currency. The foreign revenue Britain now derives from tourism ranks with that earned by such traditional tourist countries as France and Italy and exceeds that of Switzerland and Austria. Difficulties Faced

I Due to Britain’s geographi- , cal position, success in international tourism has been achieved in the face of considerable difficulties, said the report. “We are one of the northern countries of Europe and the main trend of tourist traffic is always to the south. We lack the powerful magnet of the Mediterranean sun, which confers on all those countries bordering the Mediterranean a special tourist attraction. And, finally, we have the disadvantage of being an island. “Every visitor who comes here has to cross the barrier of the Channel. We ourselves are used to having to cross the sea every time we go abroad, but there are still many people on the Continent who, though widely travelled, have never made a sea crossing and do not relish the prospect of doing so. “In the course of a week-

end, a French motorist living in, say, Strasbourg can take his family on a trip through Germany, Switzerland and Italy—with corresponding benefit to the tourist figures of each of these countries. Holland and Belgium similarly benefit from the descent upon their coasts of thousands of Germans from the industrial cities of the Ruhr, intent upon spending time by the sea.”

International traffic, said the report,, is one of the fastest growing activities in the world. The two principal areas of growth are Europe and between Europe and North America. Eighty per cent of international tourism is within these areas. And Britain comes within both of them. British Travel Association research into current tourist trends shows that the increase in recreational traffic will grow even faster in the future.

“Indeed, the opportunities for growth are almost boundless. By the 1970’s we expect that Britain will be receiving five million visitors a year—and it was only in 1955 that we topped the million mark for the first time,” the report said.