With the U.S. a Bargain for Britons, London Cabbies Hired as Boosters

With Elvis on one side and B.B. King on the other, Colin Casey's cab advertises the city of Memphis. More than a quarter of London's taxis now promote products and places, and an increasing number of drivers are trained in what marketers call the "spiel at the wheel." (By Kevin Sullivan -- The Washington Post)

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In, fact so many British travelers go to the United States -- about 4 million a year -- that they are increasingly seeking out what are considered here to be more exotic U.S. destinations. Mississippi, Tennessee and the Great Lakes are among the places now advertising on London taxis.

"We are seeing growth in more rural areas, even places like Kansas City," said Stella Clery-Ackland, managing director of Cellet Travel Services Ltd., a marketing and public relations company that represents Utah, Missouri and other states.

She said British travelers like bed-and-breakfasts, and on the Internet they find charming ones that lure them "to real America, small-town America, where there has been a resurgence in travel."

She said older British people are traveling, too. "Before, grandpa might be content to sit at home with his pipe and slippers," she said, but now he is interested, for instance, in riding a Mississippi riverboat.

Terry Bateman, who like many London taxi drivers owns his own vehicle, has turned his shiny new $70,000 black London cab a watery blue to advertise the Great Lakes. For that, he said, he earns about $2,000 a year, helping him pay the high price of gasoline, which costs twice as much as it does in the United States. Bateman said passengers inquire about the Great Lakes, with many simply asking, "Where are they?"

The Web site displayed on the taxi and printed on Bateman's receipts ( http://greatlakesnorthamerica.co.uk) describes the freshwater lakes as a region "the size of continental Europe."

But Colin Casey's taxi needs no explanation: It advertises the city of Memphis, with a huge picture of Elvis on one side and one of B.B. King on the other.

"People say London's taxis should be black," Casey said, and that is why he didn't want just any old color or ad on his roomy vehicle.

"People love Elvis. Someone is always taking photos of my taxi," said Casey, who was married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas.

Those who have been drinking, he said, even start singing "Hound Dog" or "Blue Suede Shoes."

Special correspondent Karla Adam contributed to this report.