BRITISH TOURIST AUTHORITY (BTA) has released figures that show inbound tourism increased by 5% August 2002 marking the third consecutive monthly rise in overseas visitor numbers to Britain this year (3% in June and 15% in July, compared to the same months in 2001). The BTA says it is optimistic that the recovery is being sustained although ABTN points out that August 2001 was in the middle of the Foot and Mouth crisis. New emerging markets for Britain include China, Russia, Poland and Korea where BTA has identified potential to develop market-specific websites as well as trade and PR networks. The figures highlight the success of the ”Only in Britain. Only in 2002” campaign. Overseas visitors to the UK over the 12 months period increased by 3% to 16.74m. Traffic from Western Europe continues to be buoyant with visits up by 11% compared to August 2001. Visits from North America have also surprisingly shown a good increase, up by 8% compared to 2001.
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