Despite an expected surge in Chinese tourism spend in the UK, US, German and French tourists will continue to dominate tourism spend across the next few years.
New research from Barclays reveals that foreign tourist spends is predicted to reach over £27bn by 2017, an increase of 34 per cent on 2013.
Loosening visa restrictions and rapid growth in spend among tourists from emerging economies is expected to boost spending from China, UAE and Russia.
But a YouGov study published this week, of 1,154 UAE residents, revealed that over half (52 per cent) of UAE nationals ‘don‘t feel the UK is safe‘ and 32 per cent say they are now unlikely to visit the UK for their next holiday following two consecutive attacks on UAE nationals visiting London.
“London is one of the safest big cities in the world and welcomes many millions of visitors every year who come to the capital to experience everything the city has to offer,” London and Partners (L&P) said in a statement.
Richard Lowe, Head of Retail & Wholesale, Barclays, commented: “It is worth considering that British-made goods remain popular amongst overseas consumers, so it would be time well-spent evaluating how they market their products to audiences from overseas eager to snap up ‘Brand Britain‘.”
Predicted top ten foreign nationalities UK spend in 2017
USA – £2.92bn (10.8%)
France – £1.79bn (6.6%)
Germany – £1.66bn (6.2%)
Australia – £1.35bn (5%)
China – £1.01bn (3.7%)
Irish Republic – £774m (2.9%)
United Arab Emirates – £756m (2.8%)
Italy – £753m (2.8%)
Spain – £750m (2.8%)
Russia – £750m (2.8%)
