VisitBritain and VisitEngland report 25-fold ROI
Tourists spent over £1 billion in Britain last year as a result of activity by national tourism agency VisitBritain and VisitEngland – meaning that, for every pound invested in the agency, visitors spent £25 in Britain.
As well as the funding the agency gets from the UK Government, it also attracted £13 million of investment in cash and in-kind from commercial partners and delivered £2 million profit from its online shop – money that is reinvested into its activities to grow the value of tourism.
The results, announced today at the agency’s annual review, come on the back of a strong 2017 for inbound tourism.
VisitBritain forecasts that it will beat its ambition of 40 million inbound visits by 2020 this year. Brits have also been taking more holidays at home with visits and spend up by 6% in 2017.
UK Minister for Tourism Michael Ellis said: "Britain’s tourism industry is booming.
"Last year was a very strong year for domestic and inbound tourism, with tens of billions of pounds going into our economy.
"The Government, alongside VisitBritain/VisitEngland, is working with the sector to build on this success with an emphasis on attracting major business events and investing in local tourism projects through the Discover England Fund."
British Tourist Authority chairman Steve Ridgway said tourism in the UK is growing at a rate faster than the digital industries and continuing to attract overseas investment.
He said: "Tourism is the country’s shop window to the world. A £127 billion powerhouse which continues to deliver for the British economy, creating jobs and driving economic growth right across the country.
"Our third largest service export, tourism needs no trade deals to prosper. Britain is already competing strongly in our most valuable visitor source markets such as the US and in markets that are crucial for our future including China."
But he warned: "We face a number of significant challenges, the most important the UK’s departure from the European Union.
"Whilst we address the initial fluctuations in currency and EU worker concerns, we soon will need to deal with the longer-term realities.
"We want to ensure that the future relationship keeps our borders as frictionless as possible for visitors, our aviation as connected as ever, and our economic stability on track – because tourism depends on this."
Domestic tourism in England had also seen success from the growth in holidays to more frequent short-breaks. Domestic tourism accounted for almost 80% of all tourism activity and £70 billion was spent by domestic tourists in England last year, supporting millions of jobs.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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