Britain's inbound tourism sector to beat 2014 forecasts New figures released, for the first eleven months of last year, suggest that 2014 is another record year for inbound tourism – beating VisitBritain’s original growth forecast.
During January to November 2014 there were 32.4 million visits to the UK, 7 per cent more visits recorded than at the same juncture in 2013. These overseas visitors spent just over £20 billion ($29.8 billion), 3 per cent more than in the eleven months to November in 2013.
More international visitors are holidaying in Britain than ever before. Figures suggest that there have been 13 million holiday visits to the UK over the 11 months to November 2014, passing the previous annual holiday visit record of 12.7 million in 2013.
Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain, said: “Inbound tourism continues to be the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry and one of Britain’s most successful export industries, generating jobs and growth across Britain. We are delighted to have played our part in delivering this success.”
VisitBritain set its 2015 forecast to suggest that there will be 35.1 million visits in 2015 generating visitor spending of £22.2 billion ($33.2 billion). These spend figures would be a new record.
Britain is projecting a growth of 30 per cent in number of visits from the GCC by 2016 to 700,000 visits.