Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
17 October 2009
07:3630727I see a small item in the Dover Express is reporting a boost in local tourism in the White Cliffs Area..from Sandwich to Deal to Dover etc. It seems that the local industry has had its best year since 1976 according to some.
Dover Castle has had its best year in seven years and the local Guesthouses have been reporting increased occupancy. So thats all good news.
The collapse of the value of the Pound in relation to the Euro has, it seems, brought in loads more tourists from the near continent. An extra factor too in this boost, was that more people from the UK stayed in the UK. Although that might sound a tad dull, thats whats happening. As for me personally I had two continental holidays at enormous cost..it felt like enormous cost even though the holidays were relatively humble, because the pound went nowhere on the continent.
We spoke about this general tourist topic didnt we, at the beginning of the summer when an item on TV highlighted Walletts Court, saying the UK was bracing itself for a bumper year.
Well it looks like the predictions came through..it was a bumper year.
But how much of this 'bumperism' permeated itself down through the leafy streets of downtown Dover I would love to know...are we still being bypassed for the greener pastures of Canterbury and beyond?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 October 2009
10:3130736that surprises me about dover castle, the refurbished great tower has only been open a couple of months so would not show on their figures.
the pound looks like it will continue to struggle for a while yet, so it is up to local businesses to take advantage of the increased tourist footfall.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
17 October 2009
11:0230738For a time there the pound did recover a bit but its now weakened again so roughly at the moment a Euro is worth 92p...it was something like 68 earlier in the year, although just remembering that off the top of my head in relation to it being this year.
So the Euro is strong and solid and the pound is suffering fluctuations. My feeling is that this will go on for sometime which will have benefits here but not good for travellers. The Euro also coincided with Roger's initiative with those leaflets in France. Which would have helped them to work their magic..I saw extra tourists today in central Dover. More than I expected for a sleepy saturday in October with no Cruise Liners in. So business is on the up...but have they got anything to do in central Dover?
Howard with regard to the Castle...they seem to have a new management up there intent on driving forward commercially. They are the ones behind the cable car idea as I understand it.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
17 October 2009
11:2830739Not seen numbers but they are definately up - I went a couple of weeks ago and the carparks inside were packed
They are expected to peak again soon when the Time Team Special is shown next month...
Been nice knowing you :)
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
17 October 2009
14:2930760paulb,i think you will find the euro at 98p so things are looking grim for the pound.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
17 October 2009
15:4330766Gosh is it 98p now Brian..well that is a bit of a shock as I thought we had left parity behind. It did seem so for a while. This might exactly be why I saw more tourists this morning..more than uisual. That and Roger's leaflet is packing them in.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
17 October 2009
16:1830769I would like to think that my French Discover Dover leaflet helped - it is on the LD Lines ferries and also P.& O. and in various outlets in and around Boulogne and Calais.
I have just a few of the English ones left (couple of hundred), the last of the earlier LD Lines ones are now on their ships, but I have 3 to 4,000 of the P.& O. ones for distributing.
I would like some funding so I can print off another 10,000 English leaflets and these would probably last over the winter period.
Roger
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
17 October 2009
19:1530785yes paulb you get 1.01 to 1.o2 euros to the pound now makes you think though dont it.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
18 October 2009
02:2830822Current exchange rate:
1.00 GBP = 1.09982 EUR
Been nice knowing you :)
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
18 October 2009
11:0230842paul,it has been lower over the past weeks.well acording to the newspapers exchange rates.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
18 October 2009
12:5330862isn't there a difference between the official exchange rate and the tourist rate?
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
18 October 2009
13:4530866The exchange rate is helping our exporters when they most need it. As I say keeping the £ means that the currency take take part of the strain of Brown's mismanagement. There was an article recently about how much worse we would have things if Brown had not kept us out of the Euro (the only thing to his credit) .