VisitBritain Announces 2009 New Tourism Developments .

In 2009, Britain will be a center for cultural inspiration across the country.  Visitors will be enchanted by the year-long festivities for Homecoming Scotland ’09, new aquarium and interactive bird conservation center, as well as several newly refurbished museums.    

To help travelers uncover these new treasures, VisitBritain, the national tourist office for England, Scotland and Wales, has just unveiled the new tourism developments in Britain for 2009.

England

Located in London’s East End, the Whitechapel Gallery is currently undergoing a £13 million (or approximately $26 million) development to increase the gallery space by 78 percent.  Upon completion, the expanded gallery will have an archive and research center, education studio, a site specific commission’s gallery (highlight an artist’s for one year), a project-based gallery (focusing on community-based, school-based and public art), a new bistro-style and members only restaurant.  The gallery will re-open in spring 2009.

The Museum of London also is undergoing a £19 million (or approximately $38 million) redevelopment of its lower galleries to re-tell the story of London and its people from 1666 to the present.   The modern galleries will re-open in 2009 featuring a new Clore Learning Center, a theater, and the Sackler Hall containing an information zone.

Kenilworth Castles’ Elizabeth Gardens re-creation will officially open to the public in 2009.  The re-created gardens will be as close to the original garden as possible, based on the archeological excavation, historical research and contemporary description from Robert Laneham and an eye-witness account of the Elizabethan garden dating from July 1575.  This garden is located in Swindon, England.

Nestled on a little orchard farm in Eardisland in Herefordshire, the International Centre for Birds of Prey will be a world-class facility housing 170 bird species.  The center, which will be open to the public, will offer courses on all aspects of bird handling, training and conservation for the birds of prey in their natural habitat.  The center is scheduled to open in fall 2009.

Saltholme will also be another world-class nature reserve nestled on 1,000 acres in the Tees Valley in the north of England.  Visitors can meander along new lakes, pools, grasslands and reedbeds to see exciting, rare and exclusive species.  The environment will also encourage rare wildlife such as kingfishers, mute swans, grey herons, butterflies, dragon flies and wild flowers.  This attraction will open to the public in the winter / spring 2009.

The Newcastle-based Great North Museum is a new £26 million (or approximately $52 million) museum showcasing major displays exploring the wonder and diversity of the natural world, a planetarium, a large-scale, an interactive model of Hadrian’s Wall, as well as a spectacular Greek and Etruscan archaeological finds and a life-size T-Rex dinosaur skeleton.  The museum, which is scheduled to open in spring 2009, will feature exhibitions from the Hancock Museum, The Museum of Antiquities and Shefton Museum.

Blue Reef is a new, world-class £4 million (or approximately $8 million) aquarium in the former Wildwalk and IMAX^® building in Bristol, England.  The aquarium will feature native and tropical marine and freshwater creatures in naturally themed habitats designed to inspire deeper understanding of the natural world when it opens to the public in summer 2009.

Otter Nurseries will be a new restaurant and coffee shop serving lite, home made meal options to patrons in Devon, England.  The new venue can accommodate 400 people.

Scotland

Homecoming Scotland ’09 will be a year-long celebration to showcase all the great things Scotland has given the world, unlimited potential for golf and endless opportunities to trace one’s ancestry.  The special events will commemorate the 250^th birthday for Robert Burns, the world-renowned national poet and cultural icon.  Scots around the world, as well as those with an affinity for Scotland, will come home so to speak during next year’s festivities.     &
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