Royal North-West Welcome for SATW

The Society of American Travel Writers holds its 52nd Annual Conference in Manchester, North-West England, with welcomes from Bill Bryson and Princess Anne

Over 500 travel writers and photographers are gathered in Manchester for the 52nd Annual Conference of the Society of American Travel Writers. It is the largest convention of travel journalists in the world in 2007, and there was a royal welcome for the visitors from the USA and Canada when the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, attended the opening dinner in Manchester's huge and impressively ornate Town Hall.

The Lord Mayor of Manchester was also there to welcome the delegates to England's second city and Britain's third most popular with overseas visitors. Only London and Edinburgh receive more foreign visitors each year.

Some delegates arrived early in order to attend some pre-conference trips around north-west England, including the Lake District. During the conference there is plenty to keep them entertained in Manchester itself, including a dinner and stadium tour at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground, and city tours covering such subjects as Literary Manchester, Manchester's Music Scene and Mancunian Ingenuity. Delegates were also enjoying unofficial pub-crawls, late into the night, after extensive research on the city's best and oldest pubs.

A highlight of the opening celebrations was the keynote speech by the world's favorite travel writer, Bill Bryson. Bryson is the perfect choice, being an American who has made his home in Britain and who lived for many years about 50 miles away from Manchester in the Yorkshire Dales. His quip about Yorkshire went down well with the Lancastrians in the audience: 'If you want to know what your shortcomings are you won't find a more helpful bunch of people,' Bryson said.

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