www.ft.com The number of visits to the UK by overseas residents had been soaring before the July attacks on London, according to official figures published yesterday.
Foreign tourists made 14.01m visits in the six months to the end of June, 12 per cent more than a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.
The increase in tourist numbers was driven by visitors from outside western Europe and north America, whose number of trips rose by 30 per cent to 2.85m.
Arrivals from western Europe rose 12 per cent to 9.2m, but from north America fell 6 per cent to 1.96m.
Overseas visitors spent £6.11bn between January and June, up 12 per cent on the first half of last year.
The figures reflect the growing popularity of the UK, and London in particular, to people in developing nations, such as Russia and China.
Chinese visitor numbers increased by 41 per cent to 92,000 between 2003 and 2004, according to Visit Britain, the tourist authority.
This is expected to increase further following the Chinese government's decision to give the UK approved destination status, which enables Chinese citizens to travel to the UK for holidays rather than just business or study trips.
The first 80 Chinese tourists travelling under this scheme arrived in the UK at the end of last month.
Visit Britain said: "It is great news to see record levels of international visitors. These new markets have a huge growth potential."
July's bomb attacks on the London transport system are expected to dent the number of overseas visitors in the second half of the year as people cancel trips planned for the summer and autumn months.
Research commissioned by the Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group in the wake of the July 7 attacks found that spending by overseas visitors could be 2 per cent, or at least £300m, below current expectations for 2005.
Since half of all overseas visitors travel to London, this represents a fall of £150m in the capital.
The study did not take into account the failed bomb attempts of July 21. Although there have been minimal cancellations in the short term, the tourism industry believes there will be serious implications for tourism in London and possibly the rest of the UK.
Foreign travel by UK residents has also been on the increase, according to the ONS figures. UK residents made 29.92m trips abroad in the first six months, a 4 per cent rise on a year earlier.
Visits to north America increased by 12 per cent to 2.45m, while travel to western Europe was flat at 21.92m trips. Journeys to other parts of the world were up 19 per cent at 5.56m.
UK residents spent £14.3bn during their trips abroad in the first six months of the year, 7 per cent more than the total spent between January and June 2004. |