Speaking here during the official launch of "Great", Britain's biggest ever international tourism campaign, which will cost £125 million ($198 million/€149 million) over the next four years, Hunt predicted that live sport at London 2012 would be watched by half the world's population, adding: "I believe the big surprise of the Games will be the Paralympics.

"I think they will have as high a profile as the Olympics, probably for the first time ever.

"And that is something this Government is extremely proud about."

Channel 4 has promised to turn Paralympic athletes into "household names" through their coverage of the event.

As the UK's official Paralympics broadcaster, they plan to show at least 150 hours of live coverage.

A Channel 4 spokesman said that their research showed 84 per cent of the British public was unable to name a single British Paralympian, despite the fact that Britain came second at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.


The Great campaign, which has a target of gaining an extra 4.6 million extra visitors with a £2.3 billion ($3,6 billion/€2.7 billion)additional spend, over the next four years – is deliberately flying in the face of austerity.

Hunt insisted that the campaign, featuring the branding "GREAT" and targeting 14 key cities in nine countries worldwide, marked "a very significant moment for the UK Government", adding: "There is a big conventional wisdom at times of austerity that we should be cutting back on all kinds of marketing and promotion.

"This is the UK Government saying 'We are going to ignore that conventional wisdom'.

"This will be the biggest, longest ad for Britain in our history.

"As with the Opening Ceremony, when we doubled its budget, we have quite deliberately confounded conventional wisdom."


Branded posters (pictured above) and adverts on television and in cinemas will be seen in Beijing, Berlin, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Rio, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.

"Some people will think that for traditional, conservative Brits we have gone completely berserk," Hunt added.

"What you will see here is things that Britain has never done before.

"If you are looking for a British quality you will not see this year, it is modesty because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We are still in an extremely uncertain time economically, but it is an extraordinary privilege to host the Olympics and we want to do everything we can to make sure that the legacy from hosting the Games is jobs in the British tourist industry and business investment for many years to come."

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