Record holiday visitors to UK

Holiday visits to the UK by overseas residents reached record levels last year, according to figures.

Foreign tourists made just under 11.7 million visits to the UK for holiday purposes in 2010 – up from the 11.4 million total in 2009, the Office for National Statistics showed.

But total visits by overseas residents, including business trips and stays with family and friends, dipped slightly from 29.9 million in 2009 to 29.8 million in 2010.

French residents made the most trips (3.6 million) to the UK last year, followed by the Germans (three million), the Americans (2.7 million) and visitors from the Irish Republic (2.6 million).

London was the only region of the UK to see visits by overseas residents increase during 2010, with overnight visits rising from 14.2 million in 2009 to 14.7 million last year.

The UK capital experienced a growth in visits for both holiday purposes (up from 7.1 million to 7.3 million) and business (from 2.6 million to 2.8 million). Overseas residents spent a record £8.7 billion in London last year, up from £8.2 billion in 2009.

This contrasts with the rest of England which saw a fall in visits for the third year running. The total of 12.6 million in 2010 was 0.4 million down on the 2009 figure.

Scotland also saw a fall in visits – from 2.5 million to 2.4 million. Despite this, spending by overseas residents in Scotland is estimated to have increased by £86 million, to £1.5 billion last year.

Wales saw a fall in visits, from one million in 2009 to 0.9 million last year. Earnings from these visits were unchanged at £333 million.

Edinburgh continues to be the second most visited city by overseas residents, attracting 1.3 million visits last year. The figure for Manchester was 811,000, with Birmingham receiving 740,000 visits and Glasgow 551,000.

The ONS figures also showed that the number of visits UK residents made abroad fell 5.2 per cent – from 58.6 million in 2009 to 55.6 million last year when air travel was affected by the first Icelandic volcanic ash cloud crisis.

UK residents increased visits to countries such as Turkey and Tunisia last year but cut back on trips to many eurozone countries. Visits to Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus all fell by more than 10 per cent.

Despite the dip in numbers, Spain was still the most visited overseas country by UK residents last year, accounting for 10.4 million visits. Next was France (9.1 million), the US (3.2 million) and the Irish Republic (3.0 million).

The countries whose residents provided most visits to the UK in 2010 were:
1. France - 3.6 million
2. Germany - 3.0 million
3. US - 2.7 million
4. Irish Republic - 2.6 million
5. Spain - 1.8 million
6. The Netherlands - 1.8 million
7. Italy - 1.5 million
8. Belgium - 1.1 million
9. Poland - 1.1 million
10. Australia - 1.0 million

The most visited countries by UK residents in 2010 were:
1. Spain - 10.4 million
2. France - 9.1 million
3. US - 3.2 million
4. Irish Republic - 3.0 million
5. Italy - 2.2 million
6. Germany - 2.1 million
7. Portugal - 1.9 million
8. Turkey - 1.8 million
9. The Netherlands - 1.8 million
10. Greece - 1.7 million