VISITBRITAIN has published the latest tourism figures showing that 12.5m visitors travelled to the UK in the first half of this year ” a rise of 13% on 2003 and the ”best-ever” January to June period. During the three-month period from April to June 2004, strong year-on-year growth has been recorded from the traditional markets of North America (up 20%) and Western Europe (up 11%). However, the most significant increase has been driven by visitors from Eastern European and long haul destinations in the Rest of World region (rising 29%). Visitor spending for the year-to-date saw a rise of 9%, although VisitBritain pointed out that ” at 5% down on 2000 ” spending for the year-to-date has yet to return to levels prior to the foot and mouth outbreaks and September 11. More people are coming but they are not spending any more money.
http://www.visitbritain.com