US visitors forecast to lead UK tourism recovery in 2024

US tourists could contribute towards a fifth of all inbound spending in the UK this year, according to the latest findings from VisitBritain.

The tourist board’s forecast for 2024 predicted the US market will be worth £6.7b and contribute almost £1 in every £5 spent by visitors.

It follows a year of record-breaking spend by US tourists in the UK in 2023, which was up 28% on 2019 figures.

VisitBritain’s overall forecast for spending by international visitors to the UK was £34.1b, up 7% on spending predicted in 2023 and 96% of 2019 levels when adjusted for inflation.

The predicted number of visits to the UK in 2024 have also risen to 39.5m, up 5% from the 37.8m expected in 2023. However, these figures are still 3% below 2019, when 40.9m tourists arrived in the UK.

China, which was the UK’s second most valuable inbound market in 2019, was moved down to fourth place in this year's forecast due to slower recovery in East Asia, with a predicted market value of £1.7b in 2024.

While length of stay and real spend per night were closer to pre-pandemic levels for European visitors in the first half of 2023, long haul visitors stayed for longer than normal but also spent much less each night.

Patricia Yates, chief executive of VisitBritain, said: “International visitors spend tens of billions of pounds in the UK with the money generated supporting local economies and jobs, so it has been great to see the double-digit growth in spending from the US as well as the overall growth forecast for next year on 2023.

“We have however seen a slow-down in the overall pace of recovery compared to the strong start seen in the first half of 2023 and we face fierce competition from our European neighbours.”

VisitBritain expected inbound tourism, both in the number of visits and spending by international visitors, to return to 2019 levels by early 2025.

Tourism is Britain’s third largest service export.

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