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UK inbound tourism breaks records in firt six months of 2014

More visits during January-June period than ever before; New tourism spending record for June: £1.97 billion.

The first half of 2014 was the strongest first half of the year in history for inbound British tourism, new figures from the Office for National Statistics figures reveal. There were 16.4 million inbound visits to Britain from January to June 2014, setting a new record for this time period and an increase of 8% compared to the first half of 2013.

The month of June alone saw a record number of visits from overseas, 3.18 million, which is a 10% on June 2013. Spending by visitors to Britain in June 2014 also increased, by 4% in nominal terms, setting a new June record of £1.97 billion. Looking at the six month period, January to June spending is on par with the amount spent during the same period in 2013, but the longer term view of the last twelve months shows a nominal 7% increase, compared to a year ago.

Holiday visits performed well across the first half of 2014 and accounted for 44% of visits in June, setting yet another monthly record of 1.4 million holiday visits – the fifth monthly record for holiday visits set so far this year. During the first 6 months of this year holiday visits were 12% above 2013 results.

Business visits are continuing to show improvement in 2014, up 6% in June 2014 compared to June 2013. Looking over the rolling 12 months to June 2014, there has been a 5% lift in business visits, though not quite reaching 2008 levels.

As figures hit the half way mark of 2014, Britain has welcomed more visits from its largest visit-generating region, the EU15 countries, than in the first 6 months of 2013, up 10% and setting a new June record of 1.78 million along the way. There were also record levels of visits from the non-EU European regions in June, up 28%, while the year to date figures show a 20% increase compared to the same time in 2013.

During June, visits from the Rest of the World regions (Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America and Africa) were in line with June last year, but after a good start to the year are currently 2% higher over the first 6 months of this year in comparison with 2013.

David Edwards, Head of Research and Forecasting at VisitBritain, said: “Tourism is an essential part of the wider success of our economy and these first six months have set us up for what could be another record year for inbound tourism.

“It’s also hugely positive to see growth both from our high volume European markets and also emerging markets across Asia and Latin America.”

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Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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