South: July sets record for inbound tourism to UK

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that July was the highest month ever for inbound tourism to the UK with 3.8 million visits, up 2% on July last year. Overseas visitors spent £2.5 billion in July, 4% up on the same month last year.

Last year set a record for inbound tourism to Britain with 36.1m visits, 5% up on 2014, and spending was up 1% to £22.1b. 

EU countries, the UK’s largest visit-generating region, with 2.3m visits was 3% up on last year and a new record for the month. 

There was also strong growth from North America, which is the UK’s most valuable visitor market, with visits up 5% to 580,000. Spending from the US, Britain’s most valuable inbound market, topped £3b, for the first time last year.

Visits from the ‘rest of the world’ were up 6% to 790,000. China moved into Britain’s top-10 most valuable inbound-visitor markets for the first time last year with visits up 46% to 270,000 and spending up 18% to £586m. VisitBritain launched a digital marketing campaign across China earlier this month in partnership with Hainan Airlines and Tunui.com, one of China’s leading online travel agents, making it easier for the Chinese to book a holiday to regional Britain. 

The July figures bring inbound visits for 2016 so far to 21.1m, up 2% on the same period last year and a record year–to-date. Spending by visitors during this period was £11.7b. 

Sally Balcombe, chief executive of VisitBritain/VisitEngland, said: “We want Britain to be top of people’s list as a ‘must-go now’ destination and we have an immediate and real opportunity to promote Britain as a great-value destination, particularly in our long-haul high-spending markets such as China and the US.”