Britain set to hit record tourist spend
Britain is on course to hit record levels of tourist spend in 2013, based on the latest figures.
New results suggest that Britain needs just £700 million of tourist spend in December 2013 to hit a record yearly figure of £20bn – a sum never before reached in a calendar year.
According to VisitBritain, this achievement is "highly likely" as Britain has seen an average December spend of £1.3 billion over the last five years.
In Office of National Statistics figures released this week, counting the 11 months from January to November 2013, Britain has already seen full year, 12month records broken for:
– spend (£19.3 billion v £18.6 billion in 2012)
– holiday visits (12.02 million v 12.01 million in 2011)
– rest of World visits (4.86 million v 4.74 million in 2012).
"For 2013 to be the best year in inbound history, we’d need to see a record December for visits, but it’s a certainty we’ll see record levels for spend," said Sandie Dawe, VisitBritain chief executive.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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