The number of overseas visitors to the United Kingdom in June rose by 7% to 3.5m according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with ‘overseas residents’ spending a total of £2.2bn ($2.8bn) in the month – an increase of 2% compared with last year.

 

Between April and June 2017 the ONS adds that there were 10.8m visits to the UK, representing an 8% rise on the corresponding period last year, while ‘holiday visits’ rose by 20% to 4.7m over this period.

 

UK TRAVELLERS SPENT $7.9BN BETWEEN APRIL-JUNE

Meanwhile, for the same period, all spending in the UK by overseas residents increased by 8% to £6.2bn ($7.9bn).

 

 

At the same time, the estimated number of visits abroad by UK residents in June 2017 was 7.2m, corresponding to a rise of 4% when compared with June 2016. For the same month, UK residents spent £4.6bn ($5.9bn) representing an increase of 15% when compared with June 2016.

 

The ONS also reports that between April and June visits abroad by UK residents rose by just 1% compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, while they spent 2% more on these visits.

 

Split by area of visit, the largest increase was visits to ‘other countries’ – meaning countries outside Europe and America – which rose by 13%.

 

When examining the purpose of these visits, the ONS said that holiday visits and visits to friends and relatives both increased by 3% from the same period in the previous year, while business trips fell by 7%.