Provisional figures from the latest International Passenger Survey (IPS)1 show that June was a record month for both inbound visits and inbound spend, the national tourism agency VisitBritain said yesterday. The upward trend strengthens earlier gains made in the first quarter of the year.
The findings from the IPS indicate there were 2.89 million overseas visitors to Britain in June, up nine per cent compared with June last year. This is an increase of four per cent on the previous record from June in 2005.
Expenditure over the same period saw overseas visitors spend a total of £1.685 billion in the UK, an increase of four per cent from the previous 12 months. This was also new high, up four per cent on the existing June record set in 2010.
Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy and Communications said:
“This is an encouraging sign for tourism across Britain, and shows that the UK is very much open for business and making the most of the opportunity presented by hosting next year Olympics.
“Not only are we seeing overall visitor numbers and expenditure at their highest ever level for June, but international visits to the UK in the first half of the year are up six per cent compared with the same period last year.
“Perhaps the most exciting trend emerging at present has been the increasing number of visitors who are coming to Britain from parts of the world beyond Europe and North America. This trend is corroborated by figures from BAA showing that passenger traffic in June on routes between Brazil and Britain increased by 65% compared with a year before, with a series of positive results for earlier months of the year for all three of the other BRIC markets.
”With 2.89 million overseas visitors spending £1.685 billion here in June alone, this is good news for tourism operators and good news for the British economy for which the sector is a significant contributor.
Half a million visitors from parts of the world other than Europe and North America visited the UK in June, with visits from these parts of the world at 4.6 million, up ten per cent on the previous year. Longer term spending was also at a record level, with the twelve months to June 2011 seeing total spend of £17.17 billion – four per cent higher than the previous record from last year.
