Viva Espana (once more)
UK: Spain leaps back to the top of the destination charts after 14 years
Spain has once again become the most popular destination for British holidaymakers, overtaking France for the first time in 14 years.
According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, some 12.6 million Britons visited Spain last year, and increase of seven per cent on 2001. Meanwhile, France suffered a slump in visitor numbers, which dropped from 12 million to 11.7 million.
The last time Spain was the most popular country for British holidaymakers was in 1988 – France has held the top spot every year since then. In third place came Ireland, which was visited by four million UK residents in 2002, while the United States was in fourth place with 3.7 million visitors – a decline of eight per cent on the previous year. In fifth place was Greece, with three million visitors.
In terms of visitors to the UK, the top five countries were: United States, 3.7 million; France, 3 million; Germany, 2.7 million; Ireland, 2.3 million; Netherlands, 1.4 million. For the purposes of the survey, visits included business travel as well as leisure.
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