Castles? You bet. But also farm fresh food, new luxury hotels, famous movie and TV filming locations, and a chance to sleep in the bed of a famous British queen.
Visit Britain briefed international media on what’s new and great at a meeting in New York City on 21JAN, a session that coincides with this week’s International Media Marketplace. Open Jaw was on hand for the session, which took place at Visit Britain’s offices near the United Nations.
Michael Price from Visit Wales told assembled journalists that Wales is an easy 1.5-hour train ride from London and has the UK’s top-rated restaurant, as well as five-star luxury hotels that North American travel advisors will want to book.
Volunteer tourism is a major trend in Wales, with visitors able to take part in everything from helping out on a steam train to looking after puffins.
Wales only gets a fraction of the visitors of England, so there’s no risk of the kind of overcrowding one might find in cities like Barcelona or Venice.
“We don’t have overtourism in Wales,” he said.
Wales is also a major entertainment centre. Taylor Swift performed in Wales last year, and 2025 will see the likes of Oasis, Alanis Morrisette, Sting and Human League perform.
Wales is a fabulous place for dark sky viewing and for forest bathing in quiet, wooded areas far from major cities. Visitors can even visit a farm and take pigs, donkeys or alpacas for a walk, “not that alpacas are much of a native animal,” Price said with a grin.
Guests at the Pale Hall Hotel, a Relais et Chateaux property in the Snowdonia region, can even sleep on a bed used by Queen Victoria and use the, ahem, toilet she frequently took advantage of.
Sports and television fans know all about Wrexham, the Welsh football club partly owned by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds.
It’s probably a surprise to many, but Wales's National Museum of Art has an excellent collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist; one Price said is the largest outside Paris.
Ynyshir restaurant in Eglwys Fach, Ceredigion is a two-star Michelin spot that’s the top- rated restaurant in the UK, Price added.
Rebecca Malcolm from Visit Scotland said visitation from the United States and Canada has been increasing every year, and that Canada is their eighth largest source for visitors.
“Americans and Canadians really feel at home in Scotland,” she said.
There are easy flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow from Canadian airlines, including Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat, Malcolm said.
New attractions include an Inverness Castle experience and a surfing resort in Edinburgh. She also noted that Glasgow is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year, and said the Edinburgh Gin Distillery will soon open a state-of-the-art visitor experience.
Ryan Johns from Visit Manchester said his city, which yours truly visited six or eight years ago and thoroughly enjoyed, is just two hours from London and is home to a vibrant arts and music scene. The Whitworth Gallery is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and has a new exhibit with works from famous British painter JMW Turner. It’s also the 125th anniversary of the amazing and beautiful John Nylands Library in Manchester.
My visit included a terrific stay at the Midland Hotel and a fun music tour of a city that spawned the likes of Oasis, the Smiths and the Hollies.
Sarah Carasiti from Visit Britain said this year marks the 200th anniversary of the British Rail system, which now features 2,500 mainline stations. Rail service in Britain is easy and inexpensive, and often marks the best way to get between major cities and even rural destinations. British Rail passes start as low as USD$140, she said.
Carasiti also touched on the new ETA requirements for visitors, which took effect 08JAN and require a 10 British pound (about CAD$18) investment for a visa that lasts two years.
This year marks Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, and there will be events in Bath, Winchester and Hampshire. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the London Eye, which is a splendid way to see the city from on high.
NEW HOTELS IN BRITAIN
A new Six Senses hotel is coming to the Bayswater district of London, marking the company’s first UK property. Also on the books for this year is the Waldorf-Astoria London Admiralty Arch. Mollie’s Manchester opens this summer and features a revitalization/renovation of the historic Old Granada TV Studios. Hotel Gotham Newcastle is an expected five-star property that transforms an old fire station into a hotel with 60 bespoke rooms in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Wales will introduce cultural luxury with Ty Gwyn Hotel Abersoch in this spring. The Resident Edinburgh opened in November 2024 and is rated four stars. Birmingham welcomed the five-star Baloci Hoel in September of last year. It’s described as an Indo-Persian boutique property with a cigar lounge and just six rooms.
FILM AND MOVIE TV SITES
Britain is famous as a filming site for great movies in the James Bond and Harry Potter series, as well as for TV shows such as Outlander, Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Welcome to Wrexham, Downton Abbey, and many more. New releases in 2025 with British connections include “Bridges Jones: Mad About the Boy,” filmed in and around such famous London sites as Borough Market and Tower Bridge, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” filmed in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeenshire.
OTHER EVENTS AND OPENINGS FOR 2025
Theatre:
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage opens in London in October. Also debuting this year will be Paddington: The Musical.
Music:
Legendary Manchester band Oasis and its warring brothers will reunite for shows in Cardiff, Manchester, London and Edinburgh in summer. Sabrina Carpenter will perform in Birmingham, London, Glasgow and Manchester in March. Bruce Springsteen will be in Manchester and Liverpool this year, while Billy Joel will be in Liverpool and Edinburgh and Bob Dylan in London and Nottingham. Billie Eilish will play in London, Glasgow and Manchester in July, while Coldplay will perform in London and Hull in September.
Culture, Attractions and Sports:
The Museum of Shakespeare opens in early spring in Shoreditch, London. Pride festivals will be held across Great Britain this year, with special events in Newcastle, Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Cornwall and other cities and areas. England hopes to complete the King Charles III England Coastal Path (2,795 miles) later in the year. The Six Nations Rugby Championship kicks off in January. The Formula 1 British Grand Prix takes place in early July at Silverstone, while Royal Ascot take place in June. Of course, there’s always Wimbledon (30JUN to 13JUL) for some of the world’s best tennis, not to mention endless serving of Pimm’s Cup.
