Red phone boxes and Union flags: 1,000 Britons given free trip to migrant-hit Calais as town attempts to woo tourists

About 1,000 Britons are enjoying an expenses-paid trip to Calais on Saturday as the French port town beleaguered by migrants struggles to revive tourism.

The lucky winners of an online prize draw organised by the mayor’s office are being given a guided tour of the French port town, which once attracted crowds of day-trippers and holidaymakers.

The £150,000 marketing operation comes days after the death of a lorry driver in an accident caused by migrants who blocked the main motorway leading to the ferry terminal with tree trunks. 

Hundreds of migrants sleeping rough around the town while making nightly bids to slip across the Channel to England are being kept away from the visitors.

The Britons will be taken to tourist attractions including the beach, and offered discounts at shops and restaurants. The local council is paying their travel expenses.

The Union Jack has been hoisted over the town often described as “the most British in France”, only 26 miles from Dover.

Red double-decker buses and replicas of old-style British phone boxes have been brought in.

The visitors met the mayor, Natacha Bouchart, who posted a “Welcome to Calais” message in English on YouTube.

“You must be our ambassadors to certify that Calais is a peaceful town that has been transformed during the migrant crisis,” she said, adding that the town has all the attractions of “a recognised beach resort.” 

The Britons are also attending the unveiling of a statue of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, symbolising Franco-British friendship. Churchill’s grandson, the Conservative MP Nicolas Soames, and the British ambassador to France, Ed Llewellyn, will be present. 

Residents of Calais, which suffers from high unemployment, are divided over the benefits of the operation. Some are concerned about its cost.

The local newspaper, La Voix du Nord, commented: “Calais is again making puppy-dog eyes at its neighbours across the Channel, not resentful over more than 200 hundred years of English occupation (1447 to 1558) and not vindictive over the recent media hammering over the migrant crisis, which has not always been very ‘fair play’”.

The visit comes a day after Gérard Collomb, the interior minister, visited Calais and ruled out opening a migrants’ accommodation centre in the town. He pledged to deploy extra riot police as tensions rise following the return of hundreds of migrants to Calais eight months after the squalid “Jungle” camp was bulldozed.

Its closure has prompted some British tourists to return to the area after a three-year decline, but local residents fear the latest headlines will damage the town’s efforts to win back holidaymakers.

Lord Llewellyn said: “Calais has a lot to offer, such as its lace museum, the Tudor garden and the town hall, to cite  only three examples. I am convinced that the thousand fortunate British visitors who won the competition will enjoy an excellent day and will tell their friends about it.”