Record Year for UK tourism Industry as spend breaks £21 billion
8 May 2014 12:42 PM
Tourism sector playing crucial role in helping
drive economic growth as overseas residents visits and spend hit record
high
Britain’s tourism industry enjoyed a record year
in 2013 as visitor numbers and spend reached an all-time-high, latest figures from the Office of National Statistics
reveal.
Overseas visitors spent £21.01 billion in the UK
in 2013, up 12.7 per cent year-on-year. There was a record 32.8 million visits
from overseas residents, up by 5.6 per cent year-on-year.
Strong growth was helped by an increasing number of
Chinese visitors coming to the UK. The number of visits from people from China
was up 9.7 per cent to 196,000 with spend up 63.8 per cent to £491.7
million.
Minister for Tourism Helen Grant said:
The
number of overseas residents visiting the UK is at an all-time high and
they’re spending more money than ever before too. This shows how strongly
our tourism sector is performing, playing a vital role in the economy’s
upturn. I am also encouraged at the increasing number of Chinese tourists that
are visiting the UK - up almost 10 per cent year-on-year - given the hard work
we have put in to target that market. Now it’s about keeping up the
momentum and continuing to sell Britain hard as a great place to
visit.
The
figures also showed a strong increase in visitor numbers and spend from India,
Germany, Australia and South Korea, Malaysia and Mexico.
The
top seven cities stayed in by overseas visitors remained the same –
London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and
Oxford.
Strong year-on-year growth in visits also came from
Brighton, Bath, York, Nottingham, Aberdeen and Southampton.