Morocco and Tunisia saw double digit growth in 2013 while visitors to Egypt slumped further.
UK visitors to Morocco were up 28.7% on 2012 while Tunisia saw a 17% increase.
Egypt fell a further 1% in 2013, following the trend of recent years, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Travel Trends 2013.
Spain was the top destination for UK tourists going abroad last year, as leisure travel grew.
Holiday visits abroad were up 4%, visits abroad to friends or family, up 5.7%, while business visits fell by 1.9%.
Overall there were 3.5% more visits abroad by Brits in 2013 than the previous year and spend was up 7.6% to £2.5 billion.
Visits to North America and ‘Other Countries’ grew in 2013 after falls in 2012, both up 0.7% and 2.7% respectively. Visits to Europe continued to rise, increasing by 3.9% in 2013.
2013 saw the highest number of tourists and spend to the UK since the International Passenger Survey began in 1961, despite a drop in US visitors.
Visits by overseas residents were up 5.6% in 2013, compared with 2012, leading to an historical high of 32,813,000 visits.
And spend rose by £2.4 billion – 12.7% – compared to 2012 to reach a record level of spending in the UK of £21 billion
Visits from North America continued to show a decline, 0.3% down on 2012, while visits from Europe and ‘Other Countries’ showed increases of 5.7% and 9.3% respectively and spending from these regions also grew by 10.5% and 21.6%.
Overnight visitors to London increased in 2013 – up 8.6% – as did overnight stays in the rest of England (6.1%), Scotland (9.8%) and Wales (3.5%).
