British tourism 'recovering'

A three per cent increase in holiday bookings to the UK last year has been reported by national tourism agency VisitBritain.

The organisation said that the low value of sterling has been a key factor for the rise as 15 per cent fewer Britons headed overseas in 2009.

North American holidaymakers made up a substantial proportion of total visitors to the UK, increasing by eight per cent in the final quarter of the year.

Tourist spending on average also grew in the last 12 months as foreign travellers sought to take advantage of the weak pound.

Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain, said: "There are definitely glimmers of encouragement to be found in the full year figures and the improvement in the number of visits from the US towards the end of the year."

"Looking forward to 2010 we are predicting a relatively small growth in numbers of inbound tourists of one per cent but value increasing by four per cent as the pound remains relatively weak," she added.

Posted by Penny, 18 February 2010 13:43

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