2013-02-14 — /travelprnews.com/ — The contribution of inbound tourism to the UK economy has continued to grow in 2012, with latest figures showing a record £19bn in spend, a four per cent rise on 2011.
Figures from the ONS(1) also confirmed that visits were up on 2011 with over 31 million international tourists enjoying a holiday across Britain, representing a one per cent rise on 2011 and the best year since 2008.
The biggest year in inbound history was anchored by 12 million holiday visits and good growth of business and VFR(2). 2012 witnessed a record number of visits from our ‘rest of the world’ markets at 4.9 million and a record 2.2 million visits from non EU markets.
Britain experienced strong recovery from the high spending and vital North American (3.7m) and A12 European markets (2.8m), also the strongest since 2008.
December 2012 itself was a strong month for inbound tourism with a 12% increase on visits over the previous December and a 15% increase in spend.
Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy and Communications at VisitBritain said: “Inbound tourism has shown it can continue to deliver growth to the UK economy and Britain has managed to avoid the threatened displacement in the year of the Games.
“Our tourism strategy was clearly to use the showcasing of the Games and turn the millions who watched coverage of Britain into visitors in the months and years ahead. We have made an excellent start and will continue our work promoting Britain as a great place to visit to deliver further revenue and jobs in the UK through 2013.”
Notes to Editors:
Notes to Editors
1. Office for National Statistics
2. Visits to Friends and Relatives
For more information contact:
Mark Di-Toro
Press Officer, VisitBritain
t:+44 (0)20 7578 1098
m:+44 (0)7919 392137
e: mark.di-toro@visitbritain.org
David Leslie.
e: david.leslie@visitbritain.org
About VisitBritain
VisitBritain is Britain’s national tourism agency, responsible for marketing Britain overseas. We work with thousands of organisations in the UK and overseas to market Britain successfully to visitors from around the world. We also work to promote the tourism industry within the UK itself.
We work in partnership with the Government, the industry and our strategic partners in London, England, Scotland and Wales to promote Britain in 35 key overseas markets.
Our network of international offices is supported by our London-based marketing, commercial, research and policy teams, who in turn are backed up by experts in IT, financial management and other essential disciplines.
We also provide UK government with advice on tourism policy and raise awareness of the significance of tourism to the UK economy. We are particularly working towards showcasing Britain and maximising the tourism benefits in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.
Our grant in aid received from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is approximately £32.6 million for 2010/11.
View our film to find out more about our work.
Please read more about please visit www.visitbritain.org