UK Tourism Hits Record Levels

The UK tourism sector has seen the highest record levels of spend and visitor numbers since 2008.

Inbound tourism continues to prove it is one of the UK’s key export growth markets, with the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics indicating record levels in spend and the strongest visitor numbers since 2008 in the first half of 2013.

During this period, Britain attracted 15.2m visitors, indicating a 4% increase.

Spend across this period was a record £8.7bn and an increase of 11%.

Over 2.89m overseas visitors were welcomed in June alone, up 12% compared with last June.

Overseas visitors spent a total of £1.84bn, an increase of 13% from June 2012.

Tourism Minister Hugh Robertson said: "These record figures for June show that our tourism strategy is working. We did all we can to showcase the best of Britain to the world in 2012 and it’s paying off. The tourism sector has a big role to play in delivering economic growth and we must keep up this momentum and continue to promote Britain as a great place to visit."

Overseas Director at VisitBritain, Keith Beecham, said: "This is the second consecutive month we have seen record visits and spend, while the first six months of the year have also delivered a record. In June the UK welcomed more than a visitor every single second (67 overseas visitors a minute). If this trend continues it would see us welcome one overseas visitor every second of every day of every week of every month of the year. This is great news for the economy and a further sign that tourism is delivering growth across the country."

(IT/CD)