www.guardian.co.uk Until now, it has only been possible for Chinese visitors to come here on a student or business visa. But six months ago the UK was granted approved destination status by China, and the first group of tour operators, journalists and holidaymakers arrived yesterday for a week-long jaunt to London, Shakespeare's Stratford, Manchester United's Manchester, and JK Rowling's Edinburgh. In the second week running in which visitor numbers to the capital fell, there was no mistaking the excitement that the trip was generating.
"It's brilliant, really brilliant." says James Bradbury, the general manager of Madame Tussauds. "We've done a lot of research into China. It's our number one emerging market. You can't overestimate how important it will be. We already have an attraction in Hong Kong, so we know who they like. It's why we moved Victoria next to David Beckham. We did that especially for them."
Even the most conservative estimates predict that the current 95,000 Chinese visitors who come to Britain each year will double by 2010. And it's thought that by 2020 they will be in the top five nationalities visiting Britain, right up there with the Americans and the Japanese.
Which is why it wasn't just a waxwork model of Victoria Beckham that had been laid on: the real, live, Duke of York was hosting a gala dinner for the group at the Tower of London, catered by the chefs from Hakkasan, the capital's only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant.
"What we really need to do though is to update the country's image," says Travis Qian of Shanghai's Visit Britain office. "At the moment, most people have this very old-fashioned idea of sticks and bowler hats. They have the idea that it is very imperial." |