Tourism: Visitors set to break record
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The number of overseas tourists visiting Britain reached almost 20 million in the first nine months of this year, it was announced yesterday. The Office for National Statistics said that a surge in numbers in September took the running total to 19.98 million, boosted by a major influx from North America, where visitor numbers are so far up 11 per cent this year.
The near 20 million figure is 2 per cent up on the January-September 1996 total and last year's record annual figure of nearly 26 million is expected to be beaten. The number of visitors from western Europe rose slightly in September, reaching 1.49 million compared with 1.47 million in September, 1996 - but, mainly due to the strong pound, their numbers this year are 1 per cent down. So far this year overseas visitors have spent pounds 9.64bn - 2 per cent more than January-September 1996.
The ONS also said 15.5 million visits were made abroad by UK residents in July-September, 1997 - up from 14.03 million for 1996 .
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments