Speech opening British Travel Centre

Mr. Bluck, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a very great pleasure to be here this morning to open this new British Travel Centre.

It will be a tremendous help to the many friends who come and visit our country from all over the world.

Here, slap bang in the middle of London, this centre will make sure people get the most out of their visit, be it for a day [end p1] or for a month.

There is so much for them to see, so much they want to see.

If they need guidance, this centre will provide it.

The centre is the result of a unique partnership.

Between the British Tourist Authority, British Rail, American Express, and [end p2] others who have come together to provide just what the tourist needs, under one roof, in the heart of our great capital city.

Information in ten languages on what to see and how to get there.

Ticket booking for all forms of transport.

Car hire.

Tours.

Theatre tickets. [end p3]

Currency changing.

And it will be open seven days a week.

Our country, its long and rich history, its enormous variety of countryside and city life, and its people, offers the tourist the greatest place on earth for a holiday.

It is safe.

It is beautiful.

It is welcoming. [end p4]

But the tourist offers us a great deal in return.

Tourism provides over one million jobs over the county as a whole—that is one in twenty of all those employed.

It can provide even more jobs in the years to come.

In fact, it is Britain's third largest industry.

Overseas visitors last year brought in [end p5] over £5 billion—that is about £100 for every man, woman and child in the country. Tourism as a whole has a turnover comparable with the motor industry.

But the benefits of tourism cannot be measured in money terms alone.

Those who travel to see us bring their friendship with them and they take ours back to their own country. [end p6]

Travel strengthens the bonds between the different countries all over the world.

I have done a little travelling myself.

I know how true that is.

Mr. Bluck, Robert Louis Stevenson said that to travel hopefully was a better thing than to arrive.

But he did not have the British Travel [end p7] Centre to look forward to at the end of his journey.

{He went on to say—equally incorrectly—that the true success was to labour.}

Charles II said—as some Americans might— “Brother, I am too old to go again to my travels” .

But you are never too old to travel.

I am so pleased that our friends [end p8] from overseas appreciate that travel can always lift the spirit—as I know from the American tourists I entertained to tea yesterday.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with the greatest of pleasure that I shall go now to formally declare this Centre open.

I wish all those who work here every success for the [end p9] future.

Most important, I wish all the many thousands of travellers who will come to this centre the holiday of a lifetime. It is here for the asking.