Figures released show 6.7 million international visits were made to Britain between September and November 2004…
Figures released show 6.7 million international visits were made to Britain between September and November 2004 – a five per cent increase on 2003, VisitBritain said today.
Furthermore, the year-to-date figures for January to November show international visitor spending is nine per cent up on the same period in 2003 at £11.8 billion and almost level with figures from 2000* before the impact of the foot and mouth outbreaks and September 11.
Tom Wright, Chief Executive of VisitBritain, commented: “2004 has been a remarkably strong year for Britain`s revitalised tourism industry. Despite the challenging economic climate in North America, visits from this region are up 10 per cent on 2003 and, with increasing numbers of arrivals from Asia and new and emerging markets, the signs are encouraging that international visitor spending will soon exceed previous records. We anticipate that, by the end of 2005, international visitors in Britain will have contributed £12.7 billion to the tourism economy, challenging the previous record set in 2000.
“VisitBritain continues to exploit the potential of new and emerging markets. This year will see significant marketing initiatives including trade relations and PR programmes, as well as the development of new local-language websites for a number of countries such as the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malaysia and Thailand.”
Britain is already ahead of the game with the 25.2 million visits made in the first eleven months of 2004 already exceeding the number made during 2003 entirely. The figures further support VisitBritain`s prediction that over 26 million international travellers will come to Britain during 2004 – eclipsing the previously recorded high in 1998.
Visitors from Eastern European countries and long haul destinations outside of North America continue to drive the increase. The figures from the Office for National Statistics show that during January to November 2004, visits from the Rest of World region rose by 20 per cent with North American and Western Europe increasing by 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.
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