UK Scored Big in Tourist Arrivals during 2017

The UK saw strong growth in 2017 from a mix of overseas visitor markets including China, Australia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, India and the US, underpinning a record year for inbound tourism.

New figures from VisitBritain show double-digit growth in visits and spend last year from China, the world’s most valuable outbound market, with visits up 29 percent on 2016 to a record 337,000 and spending of £694 million, up 35 percent.

Visits from the US, the UK’s most valuable market for tourism spend, grew 13 percent to 3.9 million in 2017, the highest since 2000.

Visitors from the US spent a record £3.6 billion, up nine percent. Records were set for visits and spend from the GCC and India.

There were 562,000 visits from India, up 35 percent with visitors spending a record £454 million. There were a record 25.6 million visits from the EU in 2017, with visitors spending £10 billion.

There were a record 812,000 inbound visits from the GCC in 2017, up five percent, with spend up 55 percent to a record £2.2 billion.

There were 1.1 million visits from Australia in 2017, up 11 percent, with spending of £1.2 billion, up 13 percent. Tourism minister Michael Ellis said: “Britain’s tourism industry is booming.

Overall, 2017 was a record-breaker for overseas visits to the UK and for the amount visitors spent across the country. There were 39.2 million inbound visits to the UK in 2017, up four percent, with visitors spending £24.5 billion, up nine percent.