Is the Staycation here to stay?

Brits holidaying at home spent an additional £97.2 million over the last 12 months, helping significantly boost the coffers of UK accommodation providers, new figures have shown.

Domestic visitors also spent more in England last year than ever before, with £19.6 billion spent by Brits on overnight trips, up 8% on 2014.

VisitBritain celebrated the release of the figures at its annual review, which also revealed than international visitors spent an extra £800 million over the last year, compared with the previous 12 months.

The organisation said the figures meant that for every £1 invested in its services an overseas visitor spent £23 in Britain.

The figures come on the back of a bounce from inbound tourism to the UK in July with more visits than ever before, up 2% to 3.8 million compared to the same month last year, with spend up 4% to £2.5 billion.

It continues a long-term pattern of growth which last year saw a record 36.1 million inbound visits to Britain and spend of £22.1 billion.

Pitched reported earlier this month how British holiday parks and campsites were set to benefit from the decision to leave the EU and the rise in popularity of the Staycation.

‘Our tourism strategy is working’

Tracey Crouch, Tourism Minister, welcomed the latest set of figures.

“These amazing figures show that Britain continues to be a world-class visitor destination. Together with VisitBritain/VisitEngland, our tourism strategy is working and it is fantastic news that so many overseas and domestic visitors are exploring the stunning countryside, historic buildings and vibrant culture that our country has to offer,” she said.

Last year visitors from the US, Britain’s most valuable source market, spent £3 billion in Britain for the first time and visits from China, the world’s largest outbound market, increased by 46%, with spend up 18%. This moved China into Britain’s top 10 most valuable markets, while flight booking data from ForwardKeys showed that bookings from China to the UK were up 24% for October to December.

Tourism is worth £127 billion to the UK economy.