This year, the national tourism agency, Visit Britain expects that overseas visitors to the United Kingdom will rise to 39.7 million, an increase of 2.9 per cent last year.

Visit Britain’s 2020 inbound tourism forecast report shows that the spending by these visitors will reach £26.6 billion in 2020, a 6.6 per cent increase in spending in 2019.

Another research from a flight data analysis firm, ForwardKeys shows that forward flight bookings overall to the UK from December 2019 to May 2020 are up 5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Forward bookings to the UK from China and South Asia are particularly strong, with an increase of 33 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the tourism revenue contributes about £127 billion to the UK economy, boosting economic growth across its nations and regions.

Visit Britain director Patricia Yates said, “Tourism is one of the UK’s most valuable export industries and these results show our continued ability to attract international visitors in a fiercely competitive global market. We are seeing success in growing tourism from our long-haul, high-spending markets including the US, our largest and most valuable inbound market, and from markets that are crucial for our future such as China.

“Working with partners globally we are telling customers about experiences they can only have here, converting the inspiration to visit into bookings and driving growth from tourism across the nations and regions, boosting local economies.”

visitbritain.org