Certain areas of the UK, even though they are widely known as places of tourist interest, have got a poor and negative image in the main tourism generating countries of the world. With a view to finding out the predisposition of some visitors to UK from the underdeveloped countries, when the probable visitors to UK were asked as to what sort of picture they had of the UK before moving there? Most of the visitors from the third world described the UK as a difficult place to visit. In fact, many of them had the preconceived notion that a visit to the UK was a costly proposition.

To the question, “Did you believe, before leaving for the UK, that your health would be endangered due to the cold English climate?” About 88 percent of the respondents replied in the affirmative, though not more than three percent of them actually expected any problem with the English climate. They were baffled by the strange fads about animal food in Britain, despite the gap between food production and the demands of the rising population. A small minority was intrigued by the fact that the UK is an ancient civilization based on multiple cultures, and that it looked like a mosaic.

In a recent ‘attitude study’ commissioned by Ogilvy and Mather in New York, it is interesting to find that while most Americans perceived English people as friendly people and friendly to Americans in particular and that visiting the UK could be relatively inexpensive, a good number of them who were negatively disposed to the tourism sector in the UK and thought of it as a difficult country. According to an American promoter of tourism, “their (Americans) first impression on landing at airports is unfavorable. In places like Plymouth Motels and guest houses have changed their management practices by commissioning market surveys to understand the customer preferences.

The above mentioned survey confirms that the UK does not have an image advantage over other Asia pacific and European destinations. The stringent rules and regulations are now turning away even the high profile visitors from the UK. A major overhaul of the present system is a must to effect significant changes.