Summer Tourism Boom

July was the highest month ever for inbound tourism with 3.8 million visits. Pic: VisitEngland / Heart of Devon.

This summer was a record-breaking season for the UK’s tourism industry, with more international tourists visiting the country than ever before, leading to a higher than average level of spending.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics show that July was the highest month ever for inbound tourism with 3.8 million visits, up two per cent on July last year.

August also saw the highest number of day trips taken in any month since 2012, with 151 million day trips across England, up a staggering 14 per cent on August 2015. This in turn led to an increase in visitor spending of nine per cent.

VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said: “It is fantastic to see that more of us are getting out and experiencing the huge range of quality destinations and tourism products on offer right across the country. England is packed full of incredible experiences that you can only get here and we look forward to continuing to work with the tourism industry to develop England’s competitive tourism offer, get more people out exploring the country and drive growth across all the regions.”