Coming to Britain

THE British Tourist Authority, which entered its second decade of operations in 1980, traces its origins to the Come To Britain Movement inaugurated in 1926 by Sir Francis Towle, the managing director of a chain of hotels. Like countless other private initiatives, before and since, this soon attracted government interest and, after a public meeting at the Mansion House in December 1928, when it was agreed that an organisation designated as the Travel Association of Great Britain and Ireland should be formed, the President of the Board of Trade announced that the government intended to ask Parliament for the sum of £5000 during the forthcoming financial year to support the association's activities. The official purposes of the new body, formally registered in April 1929, were to increase the number of visitors from overseas and to stimulate the demand for British goods and services.