New 2015 figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics show spectacular growth from China with visits up +46% on 2014 to 270,000 – although spending grew by only +18% to £586m/$849m.

Nevertheless this will offer comfort to the UK duty free and travel retail industry [the world’s fourth biggest market in 2014 according to Generation Research data]. Also boosting confidence will be the fact that records were set in 2015 for overall UK inbound visits, with strong growth from the US, Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The surging Chinese numbers have moved China into the UK’s top 10 most valuable inbound markets. Tourism Minister, David Evennett, comments: “Britain boasts some of the best attractions in the world and drawing more visitors in from key markets like China and the US is fantastic news for the whole country.”

The trend show that spending has been moderating. While inbound growth has been steadily up since 2012, spending rose sharply in 2012 before flattening out thereafter (see charts and click to enlarge).

RECORD SPENDING FROM THE US

Visits from the US, the UK’s most valuable tourism source market, grew +10% to 3.3m in 2015 with spending reaching £3bn marking the first time a single visitor market has broken the £3bn barrier. A record was also set for visits from the high-spending UAE, up +34% in 2015 to 347,000 with spending up +12% to £487m.

VisitBritain Director, Patricia Yates, says: “It is fantastic to see Britain competing strongly in our most valuable source markets such as the US as well as in the markets that are crucial for our future such as China.

“Our innovative digital marketing campaign using the hashtag #OMGB continues to drive tourism across our nations and regions, spreading its economic benefits across the UK.”

Other results based on the ONS data show that visits from Poland reached a record 1.7m, up +14%, with spending rising +23% to £438m and Spain rebounded at +11% to 2.2m.

Meanwhile France overtook Germany in 2015 to reach second place for spending up +4% to £1.5bn with visits up +1% to 4.2m. Visits from Germany were up +1% to 3.2m with £1.4bn spent.

Q1 ON SOLID FOOTING

The latest first quarter data from the ONS show yet another record for inbound visits to the UK. From January to March numbers were up +6% to 7.36m (yoy), with visitors spending at £3.64bn.