European and North American visitors lead the way in July, with spending also increasing, ONS figures show

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Overseas visitors flocked to Britain in record numbers in July and spent more than ever in response to the improved spending power offered by the low pound.

Non-UK residents made 4m visits to Britain in July, an increase of 6% on last year and spent £2.7bn, up 3% on July 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The increase in foreign visitors during the peak summer months failed to match the rise around the Easter period, when their numbers and the amount they spent increased by about 20% on the year before.



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The surge in tourist numbers during the spring has kept the annual rate of growth at 8%, but analysts believe there will be no repeat of the double digit increases seen earlier in the year because of terror attacks in Manchester and London and the recent weakness of the dollar, which has deterred some American tourists from travelling to London.

Guy Ellison, an analyst at Investec Wealth & Investment, which monitors leisure firms such as London Eye and Madame Tussaud’s owner Merlin, said: “The pick up in inbound tourism is welcome, with London likely to have been the prime beneficiary.

“It was always anticipated that inbound tourism would see a material pick up in 2017 thanks to the sharp devaluation of sterling, though the terrorist attacks in London undoubtedly deterred some visitors,” he said.

A surge in numbers throughout the year has buoyed Britain’s tourism and services industries, at a time when uncertainty created by the EU referendum has damaged the confidence of UK consumers and businesses.

Brexit triggered a 20% slump in the value of the pound last year against most major currencies that has since waned, especially against the dollar where there is only a 13% drop since last year.

The pound’s fall made most holiday and business trips to the UK more attractive, with European visitors coming in the largest numbers, up 240,000 to 2.5 million.

The growth in tourists from June to July was helped by a surge in numbers from the rest of the world, which passenger flight records show came mostly from China and east Asia. Between June and July the number of non-European and US tourists increased from 570,000 to 840,000.



However, the overall figures was pulled back by the number of American tourists, which stalled at 650,000.

Tourism agency VisitBritain said last year that it expected overseas visitors would spend £24.1bn in 2017, up 8% on 2016. But while earnings growth was 18% in March and April, it has since declined to between 2% and 4%.

In the last year, holiday visits to the UK were up 12% to 1.78m. Business visits were down by 1.7% at 710,000.

Staycations were also a feature of the summer months after a fall in the pound hit the number UK residents making visits abroad. Britons travelling to Europe and beyond fell to 6.9m, a 2% decrease when compared with July 2016.



Spending by UK residents on foreign holidays also declined by 2% to £4.5bn on the same month a year before.

In some airports during July, British holidaymakers heading to Europe were offered record low foreign exchange rates. In one airport customers could only get 88 euro cents for every pound. Vistors from the eurozone have seen the pound fall from above €1.40 in 2015 to €1.12 this week.

Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club said the combination of people staying at home for holidays and the influx of foreign tourists helped to bolster the economy.

“It is notable that there have been reports that retail sales were boosted in August by more people taking holidays at home as well as spending by tourists,” he said.