Over £725 million was spent in the UK by foreign visitors dubbed “Brexit tourists” throughout December, as the devalued pound continues to draw bargain hunters from across the globe.
New results from Worldpay, who process payment data, suggest that foreign card spend rose by 22 per cent or £130 million in December 2016.
Luxury spend continues to dominate in the tourist market, with London‘s West End department stores seeing a boost of over a third last year.
Spending was not limited to London though, with Manchester and Edinburgh seeing a jump of 19 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
READ MORE: Why is Chinese retail tourism booming?
The surge of Chinese tourism continued over the month with Chinese card spend up 24 per cent and visitors from Hong Kong spending an extra 69 per cent.
United Arab Emirates shoppers also flooded Britain‘s high streets with spend up 31 per cent, compared to French and German spend increases of 14 per cent.
“Bricks-and-mortar retailers have not had things all their own way this Christmas, with the latest reports suggesting UK consumers are increasingly doing the bulk of their shopping online,” Worldpay chief marketing officer James Frost said.
“So the influx of free-spending tourists we saw in December will have been a welcome boost for retailers looking to balance the books.”
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