FOR years people have been saying that the British seaside holiday is dead and buried. Those advocating this view have pointed to the growth of cheap flights abroad through the Nineties and Naughties. Why would you want to holiday in a British resort where you would be served dreadful food, it would rain for seven days and then be charged a small fortune for the privilege? Brittany Ferries is even currently using the slogan 'Why have a British summer when you can afford a French one?' on its adverts.
In truth, things have moved on a long way since Fawlty Towers, and the bad service offered by proprietor Basil Fawlty, hit our TV screens in the 1970s – British seaside resorts have grown up and are ready to welcome guests with open arms. I’ve just had a great weekend camping with friends on the south coast. We experienced the stunning coastal scenery near Lyme Regis in Dorset and then moved on to the charming seaside resort of Sidmouth in Devon. The food was great, the weather scorching and the staff in pubs and restaurants were friendly. And I didn't even have to endure a rough overnight crossing on a ghastly car ferry.
A new report from academics at Sheffield Hallam University suggests that that Britain's seaside tourism industry has not only survived, but is in fact growing. It directly supports 210,000 jobs plus large numbers indirectly through the supply chain, contributing £3.6bn to the British economy. The industry in England and Wales employs as many people as the whole of the telecommunications sector.
You don’t need to look very far in any of our seaside resorts to see that the industry has adapted to survive – B&Bs are clean and serve great breakfasts using the finest locally sourced ingredients, many cafes have ditched the instant coffee and serve the finest blends from around the world, and restaurants have much more on the menu than just fish & chips.
At a time when private, rather than public, sector growth is needed more than ever before, the strength of the seaside industry will be welcome news for the new Government. We are at a point where we can truly say that our resorts are ‘open for business’ – we need to do all we can to market the individual towns to foreign visitors. If they become as bustling as Lyme Regis and Sidmouth were at the weekend, then we are on to a winner. And we will also start to reap the benefits.
Brittany Ferries claims that 'France is not only a truly magical holiday destination' and with their great it is easy on the pocket as well'. But I for one will be enjoying Britain this summer.
Monday, June 28, 2010
You don't need to be in Britain to discover our nation's riches
REGULAR readers of this blog have been asking me in recent weeks why I only seem to be writing about my travels in far flung countries like India, Dubai and Oman. If this is my chosen blogging subject matter then shouldn’t it be called ‘beingabroad’ or something similar? The simple answer is: no – ‘beinginbritain’ is a title that’s here to stay Allow me to explain….
Since setting up this blog, my emphasis has always been on discovering more about British heritage. I’ve toured our beautiful island and written about places in London, Manchester, Shropshire and the like. But Britain is about so much more than the cities, towns and villages stretching from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Over the last 500 years we have, as a nation, had a major influence in numerous countries on all four corners of the globe. Take India, for example, where I visited just a few months ago. It was the British that brought the railways, the bureaucracy and the current schooling system. Walking around somewhere like Mumbai (formerly Bombay) today, you could be forgiven for thinking that you are actually in Manchester: the Victorian Gothic buildings with towering spires, have a remarkable resemblance.
There will be other opportunities to debate what sort of impact our colonial travels had on foreign populations. Anyone with even a limited grasp of history will know that the British didn’t always behave themselves when they took possession of foreign lands; there are probably literally thousands of books on the bloodshed that the British unleashed on local populations in most of the world’s continents at some point or another.
Here though my argument is that to discover all of this colonial history you need to travel to the places where the British had influence. You get a far greater impression and understanding of what it was like to like under the British Raj than you do by simply walking around the India galleries of the British Museum in London.
And a trip to the Indian subcontinent also continues the narrative of what happened after the British left by telling the story of the hardships for many today. Many live in slums, with no access to clean water and proper sanitation. Children grow up without a proper education and instead toil away in countless cottage-scale factories recycling goods for foreign international companies.
In summary, I’ve not deviated from my favourite subject of ‘Britain’ and ‘Britishness’ in recent months. I’ve just taken the opportunity to go abroad and delve further into the backstory of what makes our island such a special place. I’m now back in Bristol and can’t wait to bring you my thoughts from where British history began. It’s going to be a great summer.
Since setting up this blog, my emphasis has always been on discovering more about British heritage. I’ve toured our beautiful island and written about places in London, Manchester, Shropshire and the like. But Britain is about so much more than the cities, towns and villages stretching from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Over the last 500 years we have, as a nation, had a major influence in numerous countries on all four corners of the globe. Take India, for example, where I visited just a few months ago. It was the British that brought the railways, the bureaucracy and the current schooling system. Walking around somewhere like Mumbai (formerly Bombay) today, you could be forgiven for thinking that you are actually in Manchester: the Victorian Gothic buildings with towering spires, have a remarkable resemblance.
There will be other opportunities to debate what sort of impact our colonial travels had on foreign populations. Anyone with even a limited grasp of history will know that the British didn’t always behave themselves when they took possession of foreign lands; there are probably literally thousands of books on the bloodshed that the British unleashed on local populations in most of the world’s continents at some point or another.
Here though my argument is that to discover all of this colonial history you need to travel to the places where the British had influence. You get a far greater impression and understanding of what it was like to like under the British Raj than you do by simply walking around the India galleries of the British Museum in London.
And a trip to the Indian subcontinent also continues the narrative of what happened after the British left by telling the story of the hardships for many today. Many live in slums, with no access to clean water and proper sanitation. Children grow up without a proper education and instead toil away in countless cottage-scale factories recycling goods for foreign international companies.
In summary, I’ve not deviated from my favourite subject of ‘Britain’ and ‘Britishness’ in recent months. I’ve just taken the opportunity to go abroad and delve further into the backstory of what makes our island such a special place. I’m now back in Bristol and can’t wait to bring you my thoughts from where British history began. It’s going to be a great summer.
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