Britain ask tourists to stay

VisitEngland national tourism agency decided to start the large-scale advertising campaign to promote holidays in the UK. Talking about the virtues of vacations on the beautiful austere British Isles the authors hoped to attract by this advertising concept at least some part of the multi-million flow of British tourists from hot resorts in Spain, Italy and Greece.

The total cost of the advertising campaign "Britain for the British" was about four million pounds. Such celebrities as British actors Stephen Fry and Rupert Grint, known for his role of Harry Potter’s partner, have agreed to participate in the project. The first actor attracted tourists to the sights of London, the second - to surf near the coast of the Bridlington resort.

Advertisements about holidays in the UK appeared on TV in March. It is worth noting that many experts in the field of tourism are quite skeptic about the campaign. It was criticized by a number of reputable organizations including the Association of British Travel Agencies.

According to the telegraph.co.uk, advertising of staycations («stay» + «vacations») was not popular among the ordinary Britons. According to the survey conducted by the YouGov company, about two thirds of respondents asked that they «are not going to change the traditional beach holiday regions outside the United Kingdom» to the question «whether advertising of holidays at the homeland influenced your summer vacation plans».

The survey showed that the campaign didn’t influence the decision of 67% respondents. It can be said they have simply missed it. Only 13% of respondents agreed that due to advertising they decided not to go abroad and stay in the UK.

Anyway, this summer Britain will not suffer from the lack of tourists because in July London will host Summer Olympic Games, which are known to be one of the most popular events on the planet and can serve as a standard of tourist attractiveness.