Football at forefront of British tourism campaign

By SIMON CALDER

Britain's football clubs and gardens will be at the forefront of a campaign to revive the country's ailing tourism industry.

The British Tourist Authority is making a radical shift away from culture and history towards sport and horticulture in an attempt to reverse the steady fall in the number of visitors.

David Quarmby, the authority's chairman, said 2000 had proved a "tough year" and that the number of foreign visitors would fall by "a percentage point or two," compounding the decline in 1999. The results contradict an official forecast of an average 4 per cent growth for each of the next five years.

Quarmby, who recently stepped down as chairman of the New Millennium Experience Company, said the main cause was the strength of the pound. "Britain is seen as a moderately expensive destination," he said.

European visitors, for example, spent 3 per cent less last year than in 1998, and since then the euro has weakened further against the pound. The same is true for both the New Zealand and Australian dollars.

The Millennium Dome, which was expected to attract up to a million tourists, has proved a dismal failure; only a fraction of its predicted six million visitors for the year are likely to be from overseas.

In an effort to reverse the decline, the authority is switching attention to the nation's green spaces. It has launched a map and website for Britain's gardens and has invoked Rudyard Kipling to promote them: "Our England is a garden/And such gardens are not made/By singing 'Oh, how beautiful!'/And sitting in the shade."

"Capability" Brown's work at Chatsworth, Blenheim and Stowe is singled out, as is Vita Sackville West's creation at Sissinghurst. The website has a search facility that allows users to look among categories such as England's North Country and gardens that are open in November. But a prospective visitor specifying those is given just three options: the arboretums at Jodrell Bank Science Centre in Cheshire; Thorp Perrow in North Yorkshire; and Ness Botanic Garden in the Wirral.

The other side of the authority's effort is sports tourism. "We have a unique turn-of-the-millennium chance to propel British sports tourism ahead of the competition," said a spokesman. Wimbledon, Lord's and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff are cited as leading attractions, but the main focus is on Manchester.

The city is home to the strongest brand in football - Manchester United, whose Old Trafford ground hosted the weekend's Rugby League World Cup final featuring the Kiwis, and where the All Blacks beat England in the famous "lap of honour" test match.

It will host the 17th Commonwealth Games in 2002 and Quarmby is hoping the event will reap a "tourist dividend" in the same way that Australia has benefited from hosting the Olympics.

"Sydney has demonstrated that if you run a brilliant Games, it's brilliant for the destination. We're hoping to do a mini-Sydney with the Commonwealth Games," he said. But it remains to be seen whether the Manchester Ship Canal will prove as attractive a backdrop as Sydney Harbour.

Some parts of Britain have fared much worse than the average from the fall in foreign visitors. Scotland expects further decline after last year's 13 per cent drop in spending by overseas visitors. The English are also forsaking Scotland; last year they took fewer, shorter holidays north of the border. By contrast, London has strengthened its lead in attracting more than half of Britain's overseas visitors.

Mervyn Gould, the proprietor of the Lobster Pot Inn in Marloes, Pembrokeshire, reports an 18 per cent increase in revenue for the year so far. "We're getting more of the 45-plus market who have more money," he said.

York has suffered badly; apart from the recent floods, the Jorvik Centre has closed for refurbishment until next spring.

The authority hopes to lure backpackers with a budget book. On Bath the book, UK: The Guide 2001, promises: "It's not all golden stone and dead kings, you know."