There's life outside the M25
British cities outside London have long lived in the capital's shadow, but I didn't appreciate quite how much until I took this trip.
When people from outside Europe hear an English accent they tend to assume you're from London and respond with a blank expression when you correct them. Cities including Birmingham are actively working to raise their profile and attract more visitors and good results have undoubtedly been achieved. But how can the UK unite to make sure the message is being heard internationally, particularly outside Europe, that there's life in the UK outside the M25?
Money is of course the first solution that comes to mind. With unlimited budgets the national and regional destination marketing agencies could increase their activity, place advertising and secure editorial coverage in the most read media all over the world.
But do we do enough as individuals to champion our cities? Do we take pride in encouraging international visitors to come to the UK and explore the regions? Do school curriculums overseas place a strong enough emphasis on international geography? Do British TV programmes have too strong an emphasis on London? Do we suffer from a London-centric approach in the news media?
I'd be interested to know people's thoughts on this and what more could be done to make sure people from outside the country know what's great about Britain.
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Interesting questions Charlotte, and a nice tag line! On my travels people rarely seem to know Birmingham unless it's Birmingham, Alabama! People only ever seem to know London or Manchester, (the second only famous for Coronation St, the Commonwealth games and rain). But then what's Birmingham famous for? We're meant to be the second city in the UK but everyone still thinks it's Manchester.
Birmingham needs to get itself on the map. Brummies know about the fact that we have more canal miles than Venice and that we have more Balti restaurants in a square mile than anyone else, but neither of those facts are likely to bring international visitors flocking in. We need to do something new, something big, and get our name known for being special. If a little town like Glastonbury can be famous across the world for holding one festival a year then surely a city with all the resources like Birmingham can do something bigger than that?!
Following on from my first comment, we should promote being British across the world! We don't have a stiff upper lip for nothing. We have a great history and great traditions, we should capitalise on that and get people to come and see how British we are at home, in our regions and in our schools and in our communities. British society is too afaid to push boundaries and to promote themselves, therefore, we should just be proud to be British and quash the Brits abroad and lager lout image that the world has of us.