The latest figures released by VisitBritain show a surge in the number of visitors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visiting the UK in the first quarter of 2016, underpinning the best ever first quarter for total inbound visits.
Visits from the UAE were up 15% to 77,000, the strongest first quarter on record; with spend also up 9% to £105 million.
VisitBritain APMEA director Sumathi Ramanathan said: “We are welcoming visitors from the GCC to Britain and we are expecting this summer to see more GCC nationals visiting as we continue our activity in market to promote Britain as a favourite holiday destination. Our global ‘Home of Amazing Moments’ marketing campaign will encourage more people to come and visit Britain by showcasing some of Britain’s best captured moments.”
British tourism from the region reached new heights in 2015.According to the International Passenger Survey (IPS) data provided by the Office for National Statistics, the tourism figures for GCC have broken records as 723,773 visited and £1.59bn spent in Britain in 2015.
Welcoming today’s strong figures, Ramanathan added, “We’re driving a strong value message coupled with great quality to ensure we continue to attract GCC visitors. With favourable currency exchange rates also helping matters, tourism from the GCC to Britain is very much on track for a great performance this year.”
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