Early months of 2012 show inbound tourism boost

14 June 2012 by
Early months of 2012 show inbound tourism boost

Britain has benefited from a healthy increase in inbound tourism over the first four months of the year, at a traditionally quiet time for visits from overseas.

That's the news from the latest figures from the International Passenger Survey, covering April 2012.

Arrival figures jumped 10% in April 2012, compared with the same month in the year before, while the amount spent during these visits also rose by 10%.

In total, April saw a record 2.9 million visits from overseas, while spending amounted to £1.4b.

Taken together, the first four months of 2012 saw 9.3 million visits - a 6% increase compared with the same months in 2011, exceeding nine million for the first time since 2008.

Meanwhile, holiday visits were also up by 5% in April, meaning that there have now been 3.3 million holiday visits to Britain so far this year, which is 7% higher than at the same point in 2011.

The recent growth in visits has helped lift the provisional figures for the full year to April 2012 to 3%, taking the total tally to 31.2 million. Spending in the year to April 2012 totalled £18b, representing annual growth (before allowing for inflation) of 5%.

April 2012 saw record visits from the high-volume EU15 markets (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden).

Commenting on the April IPS figures, Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain, said: "The first few months of the year are traditionally a quiet period for visits to the UK, so to see a record month like this with an increase of 10% in both visits and spend is encouraging.

"Our £25m GREAT image campaign has been running in key inbound markets around the world since February. That aims to entice a greater number of people to choose Britain for their next holiday and with the London 2012 Games on our horizons, we hope that these positive April figures are an early indication that our message is getting through."

Inbound visits 2012
Inbound visits 2012

By Neil Gerrard

E-mail your comments to Neil Gerrard here.

Tabletalk
Tabletalk
If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/tabletalk

Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Blogs on Catererandhotelkeeper.com ](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/blogs) Catch up with more news and gossip on all Caterer's blogs
[E-Newsletters](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/email-newsletters.htm)[ For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our E-newsletters
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking