Hamblin: the millennium is a three-year opportunity
THE BRITISH Tourist Authority claims to have gained a massive headstart in promoting the millennium against rival destinations in Europe.
Chief executive Jeff Hamblin said he was staggered that more countries were not seizing the opportunity to boost tourism on the back of the celebrations. “With few exceptions, no country is taking it seriously,” he said.
Hamblin identified these exceptions as Israel and Italy. But he claimed that other countries like Germany, which is hosting the World Fair in Hanover in 2000, were not pushing the millennium very strongly.
“Some countries are now at the stage where they are thinking about it, but we are already out there putting literature in the hands of customers.”
Hamblin said the momentum of the promotion would last into the next millennium. “We see it not as a one year but a three-year opportunity, lasting from 1999 to 2001.”
The BTA is spending an estimated ú2m on promoting the millennium this year under the slogan “Now is the time”.
Around ú750,000 of the budget has been earmarked for press trips for foreign journalists and ú500,000 for promotional literature.
Around ú4bn is being spent on millennium projects around the country which include the National Botanical Gardens in Wales and the Earth Centre in Doncaster, as well as the Millennium Dome in Greenwich.
Hamblin claimed Britain’s plans for the millennium had generated a huge amount of press coverage overseas.
n Building work has begun on the British Airways London Eye – a massive ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames.
The wheel will be 135 metres high, making it the fourth-highest structure in London. The ú20m project is scheduled for completion in time for the start of the millennium. Tickets will be ú6.95 for adults and ú4.80 for children.