Welcoming visitors from America
Russell Fletcher from Foxhangers Canal Holidays explains how the UK canals are a popular tourist destination for overseas visitors.
DRIFTERS Waterway Holidays has a surprising number of canal boat vacation bookings from visitors from across the pond.
Visit Britain is running a special campaign targeting visitors from the US, Britain’s most valuable inbound visitor market.
Many Americans will be travelling to the UK and France this year as the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings and the Battle of Normandy will be commemorated in June. And, of course, the Olympics are being held in Paris in July and August.
American visitors are attracted by our holidays as a way to explore some of Britain’s most famous historic sites: Bath, Oxford, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick are particularly popular.
Our historic canalside pubs seem popular too!
Tourists from the US usually have a lot of questions, including particular concerns about the facilities available on board their hire boat.
Like many other newcomers to our holidays, they’ll ask if they need any expertise and what the most popular trips are.
But they also often ask for wider beds and if they can plug in their sleep apnoea machines. By the way, the answer to the sleep apnoea machine question is ‘yes’ aboard our boats that have 240v inverter charging points, and if the machine is for comfort rather than for life- threatening conditions.
We’ve recently added some extra information to our website to answer common questions from overseas visitors. And we’re delighted to be welcoming the Canadian YouTuber Michael Downie back for more holidays on the UK’s waterways this summer for Downie Live.
For more information on Drifters go to www.drifters.co.uk