Boom tourism year into the UK despite London bombs
Figures released by the Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released yesterday show that despite the July 7 bombings, overseas visitors to Britain made a record 30 million trips last year and although there were 2.2 million more visits last year than in 2004, the impact of the July attacks is revealed in the quarterly visitor numbers for July to September, with the first quarter of 2005 enjoying a 13% rise in visits compared to the previous year, but the third quarter, from July to September, seeing only a 4.2% year on year rise.
International visitors to Britain also set another record by spending £14.2b.
Last year’s record total was achieved despite a decline in the number of North American visitors, which was 3% down on 2004 to 4.2 million, with 13% fewer visits by Americans in 2005 than in 2000, possibly indicating that American tourist numbers have still not recovered from the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Nevertheless, US tourists still spent £2.4bn in the UK last year, more than visitors from any other country.
London is the most popular city for overseas visitors, with just over 50% of all UK visits that included an overnight stop, including at least one night in the capital, with outside London, the most popular place to stay being Edinburgh, followed by Manchester and Birmingham.
In 2005, overseas visitors stayed an average of 8 nights in the UK and spent an average of £57 per day with amazingly visitors from Pakistan spending most per visit, at £1,697 on average, with visitors from Belgium spending at least at £203 and while Belgians’ daily spend at £72, was higher than the average of £52 for other visitors from Europe, they stayed for only three nights on average.
The figures also show that UK residents love travelling overseas setting their own travel record last year making 66.4m international visits, up by 4% from 2004, with their spending overseas also at record levels, up 6% to £32.2b and Spain enjoying 13.8m visits and France 11.1m, the most visited countries by UK residents.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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