Tourist numbers 'stabilising' after drop

Published on Thursday 17 September 2009 22:05

THE number of overseas tourists visiting the UK rose between May and July, but fewer Britons travelled abroad, official figures showed yesterday .

Overseas residents made 7.7 million trips to the UK – an increase of 2 per cent on the previous three months.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the overall picture had "stabilised" following declines over several months.

Despite the rise, the spending of foreign tourists dropped by 3 per cent to 4 billion, while British spending abroad fell by 6 per cent to 7.6bn.

Trips abroad by UK tourists fell by 1 per cent to 14.9m between May and July, compared with the previous three months.

This represents a drop of 16 per cent on the figures for May to July 2008.

The number of North American tourists travelling to the UK showed the sharpest fall, dropping by 21 per cent to 3.4m, while European visitors fell in number by 6 per cent to 22.7m.

A spokeswoman for Visit Britain said the decline in visitors was "not unexpected", and she highlighted that more than 17m tourists had visited the UK so far this year.

"The decline is certainly not unexpected, given the challenging economic climate," she said.

"Holidays are holding up relatively well, August has been the busiest ever for Heathrow, and occupancy rates are hovering around 90 per cent."