Overseas visitors are very important to Britain's economy. Almost 30 million international visitors came to the UK in 2005, spending over £14 billion. The challenge is now to encourage visitors to stay longer and spend even more. The best way we can do this is to make sure they feel comfortable and welcome. Some of the fastest rates of growth are from countries such as China, India, Russia and other Eastern European countries. Visits from ten of VisitBritain’s new markets together have grown 35%. South East Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe offer some of the best prospects for high value visits and the tourism industry cannot ignore India’s 53% year-on-year increase in visitor spending. If you'd like to get a bigger share of these markets, take a look at the advice about welcoming people from particular countries, by following the links on the left hand menu. You can learn about China, India and Russia. Each of our FREE brief e-learning packages looks at a particular market, their culture and background, customs and offers some “do’s and don’ts” as well as other sources of information. If you'd like information about the actual markets and how to target them you'll find www.visitbritain.org/ukindustry an invaluable source of data and advice. Look out particularly for VisitBritain's excellent market intelligence and market profiles. |
