Plans on moving the May Day bank holiday

For many people, a holiday in Britain means soggy fish and chips, 1970s-style B&Bs and most of all rain. That might be why Britons are more likely than any other Europeans to rack up air miles in search of the sun.
Now the government is announcing a tourism strategy to make the number of Britons who holiday at home match those who go abroad. Ministers say they want to convince people that Britain isn't as wet as they think, or that London is the country's only highlight. A number of "super-destinations" are being planned to rival the capital, including Cornwall, the Cotswolds and the Peak District.
The tourism minister, John Penrose, confirmed plans to consult on moving the May Day bank holiday either back to October as Trafalgar Day, or forward to become St George's Day in England or St David's Day in Wales. Scotland has different bank holidays.
But an idea to change the clocks to extend the lighter summer evenings – something that has been called for by tourism bosses – has been dropped. The U-turn came amid concerns about children travelling to school on dark mornings and the possibility of more road accidents.
Rules governing brown signs signalling tourist venues will be eased to allow greater details. The strategy document also suggests more translations on signs, highlighting Japanese on signs in the Cotswolds as a good example.
Passport queues will be shortened to make the UK more welcoming.
In a section marked Making The Industry More Resilient In Bad Weather, the strategy says: "Our weather is substantially better than many people think. For example Rome has more rain than London, Sydney has more than Leeds, and 'foggy London town' is less so than San Francisco." It adds: "Revealingly, other countries are already addressing this issue; for example the Scandinavians believe that 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes'."
The strategy aims to capitalise on the boost in tourism from the royal wedding, the Queen's diamond jubilee and next year's Olympics. There will be a £100m fund for marketing the games, with half the money coming from industry. It is the first big marketing project allowed since the government freeze on such promotions.
Penrose said: "By making the most of the Queen's diamond jubilee and the Olympics next year, the industry has a fantastic chance to … make an even greater contribution to our national recovery." (from guardian)