Visit Britain in 2012 – You’re really welcome!

Wow! I recently had the opportunity to take part in a huge press briefing in Warsaw to launch Visit Britain 2012 in Poland. As a Brit who has spent no more than 100 days in the UK in the last 10 years I have to say I was mega impressed and filled with an immense sense of pride and nostalgia for what is going on back at home. London 2012, a cosmopolitan iconic celebration of kaleidoscopic exuberance which nobody, I stress, nobody has ever seen in the UK before. It took me back to the Great Exhibition of 1851, a celebration of British excellence and achievement in a way which made me think forward to future economic opportunity.

The world is coming to GREAT Britain in 2012 to celebrate a sporting icon. The world in the UK is celebrating a Diamond Jubilee. The whole of the UK, yes, the whole of the UK is on show to the world in 2012. No better way to get a feel for the scope of the celebration than to join the 8,000 young people who will in May take the Olympic torch within 10 miles of every back yard, town and city in the UK. What a hugely inspirational way of celebrating what is going to be a Great year.

The route, which covers every nation and region in the UK and includes island visits, will see the Olympic torch travel 8,000 miles. The torch will leave Land’s End, Cornwall, on the morning of Saturday 19 May 2012 – the day after it arrives in the UK from Greece. During the 70-day torch relay, it will pass through towns and cities including Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Oxford, Southampton and Dover. The torch will visit 6 islands the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Shetland, Orkney and the Isle of Lewis. The 2012 torch – which has been created by east London designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby will travel for about 12 hours a day, arriving at the Olympic Stadium on 27 July for the lighting of the cauldron at the opening ceremony. The torch, the enthusiasm of the young people travelling with it, the feeling of hope and celebration and opportunity which will undoubtedly travel with it and touch the hearts of those on its route provides a sense of aspiration for us all.

There’s something about that journey around the UK combined with the momentous occasion of Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which will bring out the true spirit of GREAT Britain. The street celebrations, the anticipation of a global sporting challenge, the pageantry, the UK at its best. A fervent zeal, a bold proudness and an inherent feeling of rising to the occasion. Never before has business joined culture and culture joined sport and the three joined together to display a tapestry of such sustainable excellence. 2012 is a once in a life time occasion, a year during which our grand parents and parents and children can share an immense sense of achievement and hope for the future. GREAT Britain 2012 – you’re welcome!