More UK tourists head to the USA

New figures have revealed that the number of UK holidaymakers travelling to the USA rose by ten per cent in the first three months of 2007.

According to statistics from the US department of commerce, a total of 3.9 million visitors from around the world headed to the country during this period, up nine per cent year-on-year.

UK travellers accounted for 43 per cent of all visitors to the USA during the quarter, with the number of British arrivals rising by three per cent.

The government department said that the overall increase in visitor numbers may be attributable to the slightly earlier Easter holidays in 2007 compared with 2006.

"March data may have benefited slightly from the positioning of the Easter holidays this year… In other words, some early holiday inbound traffic may have moved in latter March this year," the report said.

A number of airlines have recently rolled out plans to increase transatlantic routes, with Virgin Atlantic launching new flights to Orlando over the weekend and premium class airline Eos Airlines announcing extra services to New York.

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