Visit Britain claims that the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that US visitors are returning to the UK.
For the month of September numbers of US visitors look good, at 14% up year-on-year. However looking at the period from July to September, US visitor number have only edged up 1% from the same period last year.
However, this increase in North American visits over the last quarter is an improvement on the period from April to June this year when visits were down by 14%.
Commenting on the figures, Visit Britain chief executive Tom Wright (pictured) said: “This is excellent news for inbound tourism during the peak travel period for Britain’s international visitors. While we cannot judge recovery by one month’s figures, it is extremely welcome to see more North American visitors feeling more positive about long distance travel to Britain.”
When you compare the number of US visitors this year to 2000 – considered to be the last ‘normal’ year – figures are still down. The quarter for July to September is down 7.5% on the same quarter in 2000 and figures for the month of September alone are down 5% from the same month in 2000.
During September – regarded as a peak month for UK tourism – visits from Western Europe were up 7% year-on-year.
