Historic win for Leicester City could boost football tourism to Britain
Leicester is set to benefit from a major boost in tourism after being thrown into the global spotlight following the city's football team's fairytale win in the Premier League, according to VisitBritain.
Patricia Yates, director of VisitBritian, said that football was the number one sporting draw for international tourists to Britain and Leicester had now earned itself a spot on the global football tourism map.
"Leicester City's fantastic win is truly the stuff of legends and has thrust the players, the fans, the city and Britain as the ‘home of football' into the global spotlight," she explained.
"Football has mass international appeal and a global fan base of billions and we know that people like to visit the home of their sporting heroes. We encourage visitors from all over the world to travel to Britain and enjoy a Barclays Premier League football match with our Football is GREAT campaign, as part of our drive to get tourists out exploring more of regional Britain."
Leicester's City win, following the 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Spurs on Monday evening, is expected to particularly encourage visitors to the city from some of the team members' home countries of Denmark, Germany, France and Japan.
VisitBritain's 2015 report https://www.visitbritain.org/football" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Football Tourism Scores for Britainhighlighted the valuable role of the Premier League as a global draw for visitors to Britain and its importance in attracting visitors outside the peak summer season.
It showed that in 2014, 800,000 international visitors went to a football match during their trip, almost one in every 43 visitors - an increase of 7% on 2010. Visitors who attended a football match as part of their trip spent a total of £684m, an average of £855 per head, compared with £628 for visitors who did not attend a match.
International visitor numbers to Leicester, which have grown from 130,000 in 2012 to 155,000 visits in 2014 are now expected to expand further still.
