Xinhua, London :
A record of 35.8 million overseas visitors traveled to Britain in 2015, up four percent than the number in 2014, tourism authorities said Friday.
According to latest figure released by VisitBritain, Britain received a record 35.8 million visitors last year, which is the sixth consecutive year of growth.
Overseas visitors spending 21.8 billion pounds during their visits in Britain in 2015 in line with 2014’s record breaking figure.
The number of visitors from the United States, one of Britain’s most valuable tourism source market increased to 3.9 million, with an increase of eight percent over last year. Visitors from the EU15 markets also set the record last year, with 19.9 million visits and an increase of two percent.
Figures showed that record results were seen in the number of holiday visitors to Britain with 13.7 million visits, as well as those visiting friends and relatives, 10.5 million, in 2015. Visits for business increased six percent on 2014 with 8.7 million visits and people coming for other reasons, defined by the International Passenger Survey as miscellaneous journey purposes, was up five percent on 2014 with 2.9 million visits.
VisitBritain said that 36.7 million visitors are expected to arrive in Britain, while the spending by overseas visitors will reach 23 billion pounds in 2016.
