13 Jul 2018
Good weather leads to tourism industry sizzle for Britain
BY Luke Cloherty
The current heatwave in Britain has resulted in an economic upturn for the country’s tourism sector.
The Belfast Telegraph recently reported that hoteliers in Northern Ireland are experiencing a “bumper summer”, with ‘staycations’ growing due to “temperatures which have rivalled the Mediterranean”.
According to the latest available figures from Visit Britain, the first nine months of 2017 saw 30.1m tourists flock to the UK, an uplift of 7 per cent on the same period in 2016. Analysts have predicted another rise in 2018, in part owing to a weakened pound.
Visit Britain has also predicted that the recent royal wedding will cause a 15 per cent rise in visitors from the US, while The Independent has reported that the number of visitors from China increased by 33 per cent to 268,000.
Speaking to the BBC, Patricia Yates, director of Visit Britain, said the hot weather is serving as a “timely reminder” for the rising numbers of people who are “making a late call on where to go on holiday”.
Yates noted that late bookings on the rise, with nearly 80 per cent of all holidays booked occurring within three months of the date of travel.
Close Window