Birmingham brings in the visitors

To many, this may come as a shock – but Birmingham, that much-maligned city in the middle of England, is now the third most-popular UK city for foreign visitors, behind London and Edinburgh. A new report by the Office of National Statistics shows that the city attracted 671,000 visitors from abroad last year; by way of comparison Manchester attracted 585,000 and Glasgow 399,000. Four years ago, according to The Independent newspaper, both cities were “comfortably” beating Birmingham into fifth place. The Independent reports that Birmingham has “been changing for more than a decade, with derelict canal sides transformed into swanky areas full of bars and restaurants, and grimy urban districts surrounded by dual carriageways remodelled into city squares”. Sarah Notman, from Marketing Birmingham, told the newspaper that the city had a plethora of attractions that did not exist 10 years ago, and that a whole range of low-cost carriers were now serving the city’s airport. She added: “The conference market has been strong here for a very long time but now we are getting leisure visitors as well. There is room for growth a because some people still have ideas about the city that may have been true 20 years ago, but not now.”