7 February 2008
The Britain and London Visitor Centre (BLVC) is today (7 February) revealing its new look after an impressive refurbishment to modernise the centre and maximise its benefits to visitors from all around the world.
The Britain and London Visitor Centre (BLVC) is today (7 February) revealing its new look after an impressive refurbishment to modernise the centre and maximise its benefits to visitors from all around the world. The anticipated increased footfall of visitors as a result of the refurbishment will make the BLVC the busiest Tourist Information Centre in Britain
Improvements include improved signage throughout the centre and a new centralised desk layout for visitors wishing to make enquiries. The new layout makes it easier for customers to find the right service for their needs and there will be staff “floor walkers” during the busy periods who can assist visitors and answer questions quickly.
Jaco Coetzee, manager of the Britain and London Visitor Centre said:
“The Britain and London visitor centre welcomes over four million visitors since the year 2000. Our staffcan serve customers in over ten languages, offer advice on all regions of Britain and even provide visitors with the last minute essentials such as phone cards, SIM cards and travel adaptors. I am delighted that we have been able to refurbish the centre to such a high standard and look forward to welcoming many more visitors who can benefit from the wide ranging information and expertise that the centre can provide.”
The BLVC now plays host to seven commercial tenants, providing a huge range of services for visitors to Britain – from booking theatre tickets and hotels, buying attraction tickets to changing currency and catching up on e-mails.
Notable visitors to have passed through the doors of the BLVC include Her MajestyThe Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Mayor of London (on Official Visits), the cast of Jerry Springer the Opera (to sign autographs), his Excellency the Ambassador of Qatar, Sir Derek Jacobi and Robin Cook who simply popped in for tourist information!
With the addition of a Rail Europe concession, the anticipated footfall in the BLVC will increase to close to 1 million visitors per year which will make it the busiest TIC in Britain.
www.visitbritain.com/blvc
- ENDS -
For further information, please contact:
Sian Brenchley, Senior Press Officer on 020 8563 3220 or 07971 497047
Notes to editors
· VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.
· In 2006, provisional data indicates thatthere were 32.2 million visits to Britain, 7% up on 2005. They spent £15.4 billion in the UK: a 8% increase on 2005.
· VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the third year in a row at the 2006 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com. VisitBritain plans to increase this to 25 million by 2009.
· An archive of media releases, information on VisitBritain's marketing activities, print quality, free-to-download images and more details about the work of VisitBritain in promoting Britain as a destination, can be found on VisitBritain’s online press centre, www.visitbritain.com/presscentre