Tourist board VisitBritain is predicting that 2004 will prove a record year for international visitors.

It estimates that 26.34 million foreign tourists will travel to Britain this year, eclipsing the previous record of 25.7 million visitors in 1988.

More than 15.35 million visits were made to Britain in the seven months to 31 July. This is one of the highest levels on record and represents a 13% increase on the same period last year.

“British tourism is now well on the road to recovery following the challenges of the last three years,” commented VisitBritain chairman Sir Michael Lickiss.

The forecast was made yesterday in the tourist board’s annual report for 2003, which revealed that Britain attracted 24.7 million overseas visitors last year, 2% more than in 2002.

Expenditure by foreign visitors totalled £11.8b.

On the domestic front, Britons spent more than £20m on overnight tourism within England, with spend per trip up by 10% on the previous year.

Highlights of the past year included a £2m campaign in the USA that VisitBritain claims lured an extra 60,000 visitors to Britain, and a £4m campaign in Europe which it estimates generated an extra £162m in spending.

Last year also saw the first campaign in a decade to market England to the British, which attracted 240,000 requests for brochures.

by Angela Frewin

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