Is it time Kent abandoned the ‘Garden of England’ label in its bid to attract more tourists?

Am I the only one who thinks the “Garden of England” catchphrase for Kent should be kicked, pardon the pun, into the long grass?

I’m not going to start suggesting the old cliché that we “grow the garden” or something like that, because, realistically, if we drive outside of our city centers we’ll find ourselves funneled through miles and miles of open countryside. .

There are still orchards, an increasing number of vineyards and crops left right and centre.

But now it has been used ad infinitum and has lost any influence it once had. Plus, realistically, in this modern era it seems a bit boring.

At a time when people seem to visit places simply because it makes for ‘good Instagram’, considering us a garden given everything else we have to offer seems a little silly.

And what about the miles of glorious coastline? Do we consider this our backyard lake? And the generously scattered historical monuments? Gnomes or those horrible decorations that garden centers sell? What about the lively restaurants and bars? Bird tables?

No, it doesn’t really work.

I am writing this because this week a report was published by Visit Kent whose raison d’être is to encourage people who visit this beautiful county of ours to preferably stay for a few days, and in doing so inject much-needed cash into our local economies.

Tourism is, it must be said, one of our most easily forgotten industrial sectors. But the fact that it is responsible for £3.7 billion to our local economies and supports 10% of all jobs in the county suggests that we ignore it at our peril.

One of the questions raised was whether the slogan “Garden in England” represents everything we have to offer.

But one of its biggest challenges is the broader perception of Kent.

And they are right.

Because if we think about Kent on a national level, most of the headlines are in fact generated by problems on our roads (think queues at Channel ports at peak times/traffic jams at Dartford Crossing), the Eurostar turning their backs on us (which must prompt the question ‘why?’ for many), our seas are pumped regularly and of course small boats full of desperate asylum seekers wash up on our shores when the weather is good.

What the text above doesn’t do is say ‘relaxing/fun day’.

But challenging macro perceptions when those of us who live here can only really understand micro perceptions is tricky.

And, in truth, it is something we can do little about. Because, as we all know, headlines tend to be negative. By the very nature of “news”, it is the unusual that attracts attention.

By some small fault of its own – apart from geography – Kent seems to have a lot of them.

Of course it doesn’t have to be this way and Visit Kent – which has always struck me as an organization with its head on straight and which works tirelessly behind the scenes to increase the visitor numbers that so many of us rely on – will do everything it can to highlight the positives overwhelming of this county we call home.

Hopefully they can come up with another phrase that works better for Kent than the tired old Garden of England – I suspect readers will be happy to share theirs in the comments section below… I have every confidence that they will all be very helpful suggestions. sensible. Ahem.