WHY COME TO BRITAIN ?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] • SIR,---The article by " Scadavay " which you published in your issue of August 22nd is presumably not intended to be taken too seriously, since its sub-title is "A Substantially True Story." " Scadavay's " ulterior and more serious motive is, however, to expose what seems to him the futility of trying to persuade foreigners to visit this country. He argues his point with the help of a few sweeping generalizations about our hotels and our transport facilities, to which he adds a few personal touches which illustrate not the deficiencies of this country but his own somewhat irrational outlook.
Is the occasional examination on the road of motor licences really an affront to the liberty of the subject, or rather of the visitor ? Is the display of flags in a country town at the time of a festival an affront to his aesthetic sensibilities ? Is this not a practice observed in other countries and is it, anyway, relevant to the argument ? Can visitors to a country town at the time of a festival reasonably expect to find accommo- dation waiting for them when they have neglected to reserve it beforehand ?
I will leave the answers to the good sense of your readers.
My chief claim on your valuable space is to point out that an article of this kind, far from helping to improve matters, does infinite harm to the country, since it is regarded as evidence supplied by the British themselves that no sane person would go to Britain. In fact, an article on somewhat similar lines, which appeared recently in one of your contemporaries, was quoted at length in newspapers all over the American continent.
The Travel Association holds no brief for the hotels and is aware that there is room for further improvement in many hotels, but it is co-operating with the Hotel Associations and all interested in the " Come-to-Britain " movement (to which " Scadavay's " article renders such a pronounced disservice) to raise the standard.
The Travel Association has no wish to limit the rights of the Press to criticize deficiencies in the national economy provided that such criticisms are serious, responsible and constructive, but the Association is genuinely concerned lest prospective visitors be influenced to stay away by misleading information based on generalizations and half-truths which those who have seen our country for themselves—there were no fewer than 245,000 visitors last year—would be the first to correct.—I
am, Sir, &c., L. A. DE L. MEREDITH, General Manager, The Travel Association of Great Britain and Ireland. Kinnaird House, 1 Pall Mall East, S.W. 1.
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