LONDON: Business visits and the events sector are outperforming the wider tourism industry, the International Passenger Survey revealed. The latest report indicates that business visits grew by a record 33% during January 2015, with total of 680,000 visits.
This figure shows the sector tracking as 11% higher in November 2014 to January 2015, compared to the same three-month period recorded in 2013. In addition, since 2014 business visits have increased by 8% to reach 8.54m up to January 2015.
Business visits in Britain continue to show strong growth, and continue to underpin the wider tourism economy,” said Richard Foulkes, vice chair of the Business Visits and Events Partnership. “It’s positive to report this sector demonstrating how robust it is and how it can continue to be a key driver of the tourism economy for Britain.
Last year was very strong for UK tourism and this year’s IPS figures indicate another positive year, with business visits a crucial part of it. While it is hard to create a picture of how successful 2015 could be at this stage, its encouraging to see VisitBritain predict a 2.5% growth in volume and 4.5% growth in value of UK tourism.”
