|
Feb 20, 2006
Government statistics reveal that the number of visits to and from the UK continued to grow in 2005. During the 12 months ending December 2005, visits by overseas residents to the UK rose by 8 percent, from 27.8 million to 30 million. Although visits from residents of North America showed a decrease of 3 percent (to 4.2 million), there were increases in the number of visits from residents of Western Europe of 8 percent (to 19.3 million), and from other parts of the world of 18 percent (to 6.4 million). Excluding North America, this represents record numbers of visits from Western Europe and other areas of the world to the UK.
In the same 12-month period, visits abroad by UK residents rose by 3 percent, from 64.2 million to a record 66.3 million. Visits to Western Europe rose 1 percent (to 50.0 million), to North America by 3 percent (to 4.9 million) and to other parts of the world by 16 percent (to 11.3 million) during this period. Visits to North America are still below their 2000 level, while visits to Western Europe and other parts of the world are record numbers.
During October to December 2005, the number of visits overseas by UK residents remained broadly the same at 16.5 million, while the associated spending increased by 1 percent to £8.0 billion. Over the same period, there were 7.5 million visits to the UK by overseas residents – an increase of 3 percent when compared with the previous three months. Spending increased by 10 percent to £3.7 billion, the statistics reveal.
|
