UK welcomes 12.2 million visitors to the UK regions in 2016
Record numbers of tourists travelled to the UK regions outside of London from January – September 2016. This figure was a 4% increase on the same time period in 2015, spending rose by 2% to £5.9 billion.
The summer of 2016 was also a record breaking period for inbound visits to English regions with almost 5 million visits from July to September – up 3% year on year.
Spending by visitors reached a record £2.9 billion, up 11% on 2015 figures. Visitors from France and Germany took most trips to regions across the UK – with Americans and Canadian visits also up.
Overall arrivals into the UK were up 2% in 2016 between January – September vs the figures from 2015, with a record 28.1 million visitors. Both Wales and Scotland also saw boosts in the number of tourists spending money in their regions.