Tourism minister John Penrose is anticipating a major boost to London’s tourism following the dramatic spectacle that was the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony.
Speaking at a press conference several days after director Danny Boyle’s visionary, eccentric and electrifying opening ceremony, Mr Penrose said that he sincerely hopes the world will see that “we’re pretty good at putting on events [as a country]”.
According to citmagazine.com, he also said that other countries could all now take a lead from London and try to capitalise when bidding for similar global events.
“Other cities need to get everyone working together from local government, to tourism bodies, to accommodation and transport providers. They all need to be singing from the same sheet,” said Penrose.
At its peak the London 2012 Olympic ceremony pulled in more than 27 million television viewers in Britain – TV’s biggest audience for 14 years – according to screendaily.com. While nods to such British exports like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Mr Bean’ were received favourably in the UK, guardian.co.uk says that many other countries appeared flabbergasted by the country’s quirky sense of humour – the Chinese in particular.
Nonetheless, the £27 million production proved to be the perfect catalyst to kick off what should be an important time for British sport and hospitality businesses such as hoteliers, restaurateurs and corporate venues throughout the UK.
“The ceremony seems to have had a very positive reception across the globe,” Mr Penrose said. “I hope it has burnished our credentials and shown people what our events industry can do.”
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