THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1949. INVISIBLE INCOME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27012, 22 February 1949, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1949. INVISIBLE INCOME

Not least among the many progressive undertakings which are assisting the economic recovery of Great Britain is the revitalised tourist industry. The statistics printed in the Board of Trade Journal—to which reference was made in our columns yesterday—show that the tourist traffic reached record proportions last year, the number of overseas visitors being 504,000. It is no small tribute to the British tourist industry—to which the United Kingdom Government rightly gives the greatest encouragement, and which it exempts from many of the petty restrictions which the British people must endure —that within three years of the close of the most disruptive war in history it should be making new records in its endeavours to encourage overseas visitors to spend time and money in the British Isles. That the effort, as a means of developing invisible income, has been worth while is amply proved by the financial results of last year’s activities. In 1948 tourist receipts amounted to more than £40,000,000, of which at least £10,000,000 represented the earnings of British ships and aircraft. This year the Tourist and Holidays Board hopes to increase the tourist earnings by 20 per cent., and an all-out drive is being made to attract visitors to the United Kingdom. There are obvious reasons for the success of the British tourist enterprise. Even in the remote dominions people of British descent still speak with nostalgic yearning of the “Homeland,” and when opportunity of travel offers they instinctively direct their journeys towards the original clay. Even in America this sentiment is well preserved, while in America as well as in other countries of the world in which British political, technical and cultural institutions have been imitated, there is a profound admiration- for British traditions. These attachments, which are often strengthened by the bonds of trade, enable the 'tourist industry of the United Kingdom to cater for guests who come willingly and in friendship, and every effort is made to consolidate their friendship by the offer of special facilities for travel, accommodation and shopping. Whether the tourists come to see the ancient buildings and monuments, the Olympic Games, or the great bomb scars that testify to the indomitable will of a heroic people, they are encouraged to spend wisely and economically, and official. impediments to the enjoyment of tourist holidays are reduced to a minimum. .The British authorities realise that international travel creates not only revenue, s but friends, and the tourist business is no different from any other in that regular custom is, in the end, the most profitable.