My friends are heading off to the Mediterranean. My actuary has swapped Bournemouth for Croatia, he tells me it’s 40 degrees out there. I don’t mean to crow, but we are enjoying 30 degrees of sunshine lying by the River Thames in Eton. Our view is of Windsor Castle and everyone in town speaks English.
The view from the Eton bank of the river Thames.
I haven’t seen any study or what I’ll call “reverse tourism” but when I go up to town to do my shopping, I see the coach park below the castle’s hill full of coaches with overseas number plates. I see groups of tourists with accents that suggest they are or are descending from races bathed in sun. I see my British colleagues who work in town or visiting for fun, bronzed by a scorching summer. I wonder if this summer is what we should be getting used to.
It isn’t “politically correct” to glory in the weather we have had this year. We Brits always find a way to complain about the weather and this year’s no different. Now we are worrying that we’ve left climate control too late and climate change has arrived and is here to stay.
I can see bookings to Portugal and round the corner to Spain and right round the Mediterranean fall. I can see British hotels becoming more fashionable for tourists from abroad and British tourists too. Could we find a revival of the bed and breakfast in beach towns? Can we see people choosing to travel to their holiday destination by train and not plane?
How ironic would it be that the weather we are moaning about as too sunny, too dry and too hot, turns out to be to our economic advantage! This most certainly isn’t a politically correct statement but there is going to be a controversy over whether travelling abroad to get the sun should dominate TV and web advertising. I would argue that Britain has become one of the best place to stay on holiday for everyone and while we keep this advantage we should promote ourselves.
Is Britain the temperate sun-bath that offers tourists best value for money! It works for me! It works for our river wildlife too.
