Sharp rise in overseas visitors taking holidays in the UK
The number of holidays taken by overseas visitors to the UK was up more than 20% in the first three months of this year.
Overall, an estimated 8.3 million visits were made from January to March, a jump of 9.9% when compared with 2016.
Holidays were the most popular reason for overseas residents’ visits to the UK with 2.8 million visits, a jump of 21.1%.
Business visits fell by 1.8%, while visits for miscellaneous purposes increased by 22.9%, although the numbers are smaller.
Visits from residents of North America and Europe increased by 18.7% and 7.0% respectively, while visits from residents of ‘other countries’ rose by 21.8%.
Overnight visits to London were up 15.6% to 4.5 million, as did overnight visits to the rest of England, which saw an increase of 2.7% when compared with the same period in 2016.
Overnight visits to Wales increased by 28.2%, while visits to Scotland rose only slightly by 0.7%.
Estimated spending in the UK by overseas visitors rose by 15.6% to £4.4 billion.
Spending by residents of ‘other countries’ saw the largest jump, rising by 31.3% to £1.4 billion.
Spending by residents of North America grew by 21.6%, while Europe spending was up by a more modest 6%.
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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