The number of holidays taken by overseas visitors to the UK was up more than 20% in the first three months of this year.
Overall, an estimated 8.3 million visits were made from January to March, a jump of 9.9% when compared with 2016.
Holidays were the most popular reason for overseas residents’ visits to the UK with 2.8 million visits, a jump of 21.1%.
Business visits fell by 1.8%, while visits for miscellaneous purposes increased by 22.9%, although the numbers are smaller.
Visits from residents of North America and Europe increased by 18.7% and 7.0% respectively, while visits from residents of ‘other countries’ rose by 21.8%.
Overnight visits to London were up 15.6% to 4.5 million, as did overnight visits to the rest of England, which saw an increase of 2.7% when compared with the same period in 2016.
Overnight visits to Wales increased by 28.2%, while visits to Scotland rose only slightly by 0.7%.
Estimated spending in the UK by overseas visitors rose by 15.6% to £4.4 billion.
Spending by residents of ‘other countries’ saw the largest jump, rising by 31.3% to £1.4 billion.
Spending by residents of North America grew by 21.6%, while Europe spending was up by a more modest 6%.
