The actor braved the cold and took to the waves off the coast of Yorkshire, northern England for his segment of Visit England’s national campaign.

The drive is to urge Brits to vacation within the U.K. this year as the country hosts the London Olympics and celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the throne.

Stephen Fry, Julie Walters and Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery also star in the advert.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s chief executive says, “I am honoured that four national treasures such as Stephen, Julie, Michelle and Rupert are helping us to inspire Uk residents to take a break at home in this momentous year! Their involvement is key in creating the highest profile campaign this country has seen in terms of boosting domestic tourism.”

Britain received around 250,000 UAE tourists last year, an increase of about five per cent over 2010, and tourism promotion authorities are expecting a small five per cent increase on that number this year, according to Carol Maddison, the UAE manager for VisitBritain, the country’s national tourism agency.

“The fasting month of Ramadan this year will begin in mid-July, coinciding with the Games. So a lot of Emiratis may want to be in the UAE during that period,” she told Gulf News.

The UAE is considered a high-spend market for the UK, with the average put at well above £1,000 (Dh5,783) per person against the global average of £500 per person, Keith Beecham, director of Overseas Network for VisitBritain, said.

“But we are not expecting a huge increase in visitor numbers to the UK this year — from the UAE as well as globally. We will have a flat year globally keeping in mind reasons such as the Eurozone crisis,” Beecham said, adding that Europe accounts for half of Britain’s tourism.

With the 2012 Olympics as a platform, VisitBritain is currently engaged in a global campaign promoting and marketing the UK as a tourist destination.

“It’s a global campaign we have kicked off over a four-year period. We are investing £100 million into marketing UK as a tourist destination,” Beecham said yesterday in Dubai on the sidelines of VisitBritain’s marketing promotion in the UAE.

The exercise is part of the agency’s efforts to ensure a surge in visitor numbers to Britain this year and the years ahead.

Gulf travellers

Meanwhile, the UK welcomedf 30.6 million tourists last year, according to Beecham, and a similar number is projected for this year as well.

“We expect the Middle East as a region to account for just under half-a-million visitors to the UK in 2012,” he told Gulf News. “The UAE is a resilient market and continues to grow.”

Further, around 250,000 hotel rooms will be made available in London during the Olympics event, according to Beecham. Asked if the hotel prices are expected to be bumped up significantly during the Games, he said: “We are going to see an increased demand during the Olympics months. However, there is a ‘fair price’ charter that exists in the UK.”

Meanwhile, VisitBritain has signed up Emirati film director Ali F. Mustafa as the UAE’s goodwill ambassador.

The London-born director known for his City of Life joins other prominent personalities including Dame Judi Dench, Dev Patel and Jamie Oliver in sharing their personal views on Britain via the ‘Great Britain You’re Invited’ campaign.

According to VisitBritain, the idea behind appointing Mustafa was to encourage Emirati tourists to visit the UK.

Richard Kershaw, co-founder of the website, explained: “We know this sort of thing happens constantly on the continent, so in a show of solidarity with our smutty European neighbours, we thought we’d offer the same opportunity to our British customers.

“With Valentine’s Day approaching, our Romantic Break for Three would make an ideal gift for the more adventurous “special friend” in your life.”

The convention, which takes place at the Europa Hotel, Belfast over 1–3 February, sees over 200 captains of the sector gather to discuss an array of issues ranging from airport capacity, transport infrastructure to airport passenger duty, the Olympics, security and the outlook for 2012.

It is the first time the influential organisation has held its convention in Belfast.

The Tourism Minister told delegates that Northern Ireland was entering an amazing year of opportunity with a range of high-profile events planned under the NI2012 Our Time, Our Place campaign.

Arlene Foster said: “The immediate future and the period ahead promises to be full of opportunities and in terms of tourism potential, the most significant in Northern Ireland’s history.

“Our market research tells us that in the next four years we have the opportunity to attract an additional 800,000 visitors, to generate an additional £140million in revenue and to create over 3,500 jobs.

“However, we want tourism to grow still further and my long-term vision is to drive the number of visitors up to 4.5 million, deliver up to 10,000 additional jobs right across Northern Ireland, and create a £1billion industry here by 2020.”

During their stay, the convention delegates visited Titanic Belfast, Bushmills Whiskey Distillery, the Giant’s Causeway and Londonderry.

Welcoming the strong attendance at the annual UKinbound convention to Belfast, Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland’s chief executive, said: “Tourism Ireland is delighted to support this convention, particularly as UKinbound members are hugely influential in the world of travel; they are responsible for putting in place arrangements for holidaymakers to Great Britain and the island of Ireland from all over the world. The attendance of these travel industry professionals is a strong indication that interest in visiting Northern Ireland remains high and that we can, and are, competing with the best destinations in the world.

“Many of the delegates will take part in post-convention familiarisation visits around Northern Ireland – a fantastic opportunity to showcase our spectacular scenery and the wealth of things to see and do on a holiday here.”

The organizing committee for the London 2012 Games, LOCOG, revealed yesterday that it had puffed up the number of rooms required by a quarter for media, officials and sponsors visiting the city during the games.

LOCOG has now returned back 120,000 of the total 600,000 nights booked for the sporting event.

The extensive reservation of rooms in premature preparation for the Games has led to a rise in hotel rates across the capital, which is the major reason behind many regular tourists turning their head towards other cities.

The hotel rates have roughly tripled in London during the Olympics, The Independent reports.

Various tour operators last night cautioned that a sudden barrage of vacant rooms would be too late to increase the number of visitors.

An analysis puts forward that up to one million beds will now go unsold over the Olympic period, which would eventually hit hoteliers and others working in the tourism industry.

One of the trade associations has predicted that the income could slouch up to 3.5 billion pounds during July and August. Premium Tours, a leading sightseeing operator based in London, expects business to decline by one-third this year.

“Prices have been so high that tourists are moving elsewhere. Overseas wholesalers who traditionally push London have switched to other cities this year. If the Parisian and Italian hoteliers do their job then the tours may never return to London,” said Neil Wootton, the managing director.

There is a strong likelihood that London’s hotels will be less that eighty percent full and would leave around one million empty beds during the Olympic games.

Mostly in July and August of a regular year, the occupancy stays around 90 percent in London’s hotels. (ANI)

Work will start in the spring to transform the landmark 91-bedroom building into Malmaison’s 13th hotel, with completion expected in May 2013.

Malmaison is taking a 35-year lease with an option to extend for a further 35 years, and the project will create 120 jobs.

The arrival of Malmaison is seen as a massive vote of confidence in the Dundee waterfront, the ambitious £1 billion redevelopment crowned by the £45 million V&A museum to be built overlooking the River Tay.

The once proud Tay Hotel, one of the most prominent buildings in central Dundee, fell into disrepair after being closed for many years, its decaying presence representing an unattractive welcome to the city centre. Its potential to play an important role in the area’s renaissance has long been recognised, however, and there was hope that the arrival of the V&A could be the catalyst for its rebirth.

That hope was encouraged by the granting of planning permission by the city council last year for the renovation of the B-listed building. The signing of the lease brings this to fulfilment.

The agreement has been concluded by Gary Davis, who joined the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin group as chief executive last week. His aim is to take the award-winning boutique hotels business to the next stage in its development.

”This is a fantastic project,” Mr Davis said. ”The regeneration on the Dundee waterfront is already under way and we are delighted to have secured the lease on this property that will enable us to create a prestigious hotel on the site.”

Councillor Ken Guild, leader of Dundee City Council and chairman of the Dundee Waterfront Board, said: ”We are delighted to welcome Malmaison to Dundee as a key part of the new waterfront, particularly as the new hotel will result in the restoration one of our finest historic buildings as a landmark destination right at the heart of the regeneration of the city.

”The £1 billion transformation of Dundee’s waterfront spans 240 hectares of land stretching 8km along the River Tay, it is the second largest regeneration project in Scotland and is within the top 20 such projects throughout the UK.”

First Minister Alex Salmond said: ”MWB’s decision to open a new Malmaison in Dundee reflects the significant opportunities for development and growth in the city.

”The city’s successful games sector and the creation of the V&A at Dundee strengthen its reputation as a centre for the creative industries and its ability to attract new investment and visitors.

”The announcement demonstrates confidence in the local economy and will bring new jobs to the city. Malmaison has chosen an excellent location in the Dundee central waterfront development.”

Interiors match the airline’s 777-300ERs with new seats and wider screens and are part of its multi-million pound upgrade to aircraft, lounges and technology.

“We have had fantastic customer reaction to our new fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs, which originally showcased our new cabins, and we know those who travel on these 18 aircraft will be equally impressed with our investment,” said Frank van der Post, managing director, brands and customer at British Airways.

The Civil Aviation Authority made the warning in a new report in which it also calls for extra runways to be introduced in the south-east of England.

The authority also added that unless capacity is increased then it expected fares to be forced up by an extra £10 per passenger on a return ticket by 2030. This would represent an additional £1.7 billion being passed on to passengers.

CAA Civil Aviation Authority (UK): Oversees and regulates all aspects of aviation in the UK. It was established under the Civil Aviation Act in 1972. chief executive Andrew Haines said that it has been more than 70 years since a new runway capable of handling Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s had been built in the south-east.

“Additional capacity would offer significant benefits for consumers, and for the UK as a whole, so long as it is delivered in an environmentally sustainable way,” said Haines.

Historically, economic growth in host cities falls before the games begin and weakens immediately after – despite increased spending. Hoteliers hoping to enjoy the medium and long-term benefits will be sorely disappointed.

The Guardian’s Heather Stewart takes a closer look at the evidence.

As of Monday, there will be just 200 days to go before this summer’s Olympics. That’s great news for sports addicts – but don’t be fooled into thinking it will lift the flatlining British economy off its back in 2012.

Research has consistently shown that unless you’ve a beautiful-but-neglected city you want to put on the tourist map (Barcelona), or plenty of world-class sporting venues already (Los Angeles), the impact of holding the Games is ambiguous at best.

In the latest contribution to this debate, Michael Saunders, of Citigroup, has examined the data from ten Olympics held between 1964 and 2008. He finds that growth tends to rise in the run-up to the tournament, but the effect starts to fall away even before the games begin, and afterwards, growth tends to be weaker.

That makes sense: much of the benefit is from jobs created through construction, which is out of the way long before the opening ceremony, while the disadvantages – including less productive working as people huddle round their TV screens, and travel disruption as hundreds of thousands of supporters flock to London – take place during the games and afterwards.

Extra revenue from foreign visitors is always cited as a boon for host nations – in their bid documents, the London team claimed that tourism would benefit “right across the UK, not just during the games, but for years before and afterwards as well”; but that fails to take account of visitors who might have come to the UK anyway, and will just switch the timing of their visit. It’s not as though there’s a pressing need to “put London on the map;” it’s hardly unheard of as a tourist destination.

Australia saw a 16% rise in short-term visitors in September 2000 when the Sydney games were held; but visits then declined for three years afterwards – presumably lots of people who’d always fancied going Down Under chose to time their visit to coincide with the Olympics.

As for the “feelgood factor”, which David Cameron hopes will lift the mood of the nation as the sporting jamboree unfolds, it won’t necessarily result in a sudden boost to consumer spending. In fact, it’s just as likely to depress demand while we’re all glued to our tellies.

As Saunders puts it, “In our view, the Olympics are likely to be very entertaining. But the games are not an economic policy.”

This is big blow for the PM David Cameron who is seeing London Olympics as big boost for the UK tourism industry. Visit Britain is expecting somewhere around 30.7 million tourists to visit UK next year. This would be around drop of 4 per cent to rise of 2 per cent arrivals.

Visit Britain has also expressed concerned over displacement effect that has been talked about tour operators as well. All previous Olympics host cities have suffered from this effect that leads to drop in tourists for several years after the Olympics.

Although British politicians do not agree with the theory of displacement effect and claim that tourism will be big winner from the Olympics. But it seems like PM David Cameron has also taken serious notes of displacement effect. The £100 million marketing plan to woo foreign tourists for next four years is believed to be announced to counter effects of displacement effect.

Visit Britain while sees Olympics as great way to market the nation, it also understands the challenges posed by the games. Tourism in UK won’t have to worry about just the displacement effect but deteriating economic conditions around the world and high air passenger duty.

One thing is for sure that 2012 would be highly unpredictable year for the tourism. Oxford Economics, four years ago predicted 322,000 tourists for the games, their latest research has slashed the number to 294,000. Another big issue in front of UK is rising protest against London Olympics in India. Dow Chemical sponsoring the event has not gone well in India as Bhopal Gas tragedy victims are asking people to boycott the games.