A new study shows that 10% of foreign tourists visit the UK as they fell in love with it via films. The main films that make foreign tourists want to visit the UK are apparently the Harry Potter films and the Pride and Prejudice film. Oxford Economics found out that tourism bought on by the film industry contributed to just under £2 billion to the UK economy last year alone. Some of the most
popular locations that are visited due to movies include Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, which was used for the setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter films, and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, which was the setting for the Keira Knightley film, The Duchess.
One movie, Miss Potter, which is the Renee Zellweger film about Beatrix Potter, caused such a rise in visitors from Japan that one Lake District firm has employed a full time Japanese tour guide.
The new veledrome is one step closer to completion for the London 2012 Olympics. Its timber ceiling is now in place and the double-curved venue is watertight, keeping it firmly on track. The next main stage is building the cycling track which is going to be installed in Autumn. A road cycle and a mountain bike couse are to be added to the veledrome and also a BMX circuit after the games to make it a VeloPark catering for all cycling disiplines.
In the 2008 Olympics Britain won multiple medals in four cycling events and it is hoped that the same feat can be achieved in 2012.
Britain’s seaside industry supports 210,000 jobs, including 19,000 people in Blackpool alone. No less than 58 towns have at least 1,000 jobs in seaside tourism and interestingly, overall employment in seaside tourism – a part of the UK travel industry that’s often perceived to be in a state of continuous decline – has increased by about 1% a year since the late 1990s, representing an overall growth of 20,000 jobs. In fact, the seaside tourism industry in England and Wales employs as many people as the whole telecommunications sector.
Why don’t you give a seaside holiday in the UK a try? Follow our links for hotels in Blackpool, hotels in Brighton, hotels in Eastbourne, hotels in Newquay, hotels in Tenby, and hotels in Whitby, to name just a few fantastic UK seaside resorts.
(In case you’re curious, the picture is of West Wittering beach near Chichester, West Sussex.)
Due to the recent droughts in the UK, the water level of Haweswater reservoir has lowered massively. It’s been 70 years since the drowned village Mardale Green has been able to make an appearance, having been deliberately flooded in 1940 with the reservoir’s construction. In 1929 they started to build the Haweswater dam but ran out of funds due to the great depression and the project stood idle for 4 years. They began building the dam again in 1939 and finished in 1940.
Visitors wanting to see the remains of the once-thriving farming community of Mardale could choose to stay at the Haweswater Hotel on the shores of teh reservoir or in the nearby town of Kendal, in a luxury riverside apartment fromKendal Cottages.
