Inbound tourism off to ‘cracking start’ in 2016
The number of international visits to the UK was up 8% to 2.25 million visits in February, a record.
Spend was also up by 6% to £1.08 billion, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.
Strong growth was seen in business visits, 12% up on the same month last year with 750,000 visits, an all-time February high.
January figures for inbound tourism also broke records.
"These back-to-back record-breaking figures leave no doubt that 2016 is off to a cracking start for inbound tourism," said VisitBritain director Patricia Yates.
Last year set a record for inbound tourism to Britain with 35.8 million visits, 4% up on 2014.
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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