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Record year for tourism to UK – 15 Feb 2007

More overseas visitors than ever before arrived in the UK last year, spending a record amount of cash.

The Office of National Statistics has revealed 32.17 million visits were made to the country – up 7% on 2005 – while visitors increased their spending by 8% to £15.4 billion.

VisitBritain chief executive Tom Wright welcomed the news but said more must be done to encourage foreign visitors to make even more visits and spend even more cash.

He added: “We must explore ever-more creative means of attracting travellers in an increasingly competitive global tourism environment.

“The North American inbound market, for instance, has yet to fully recover to its all-time high in 2000.

“Therefore, this year we plan to launch a new long-term campaign in order to present Britain in a dynamic light.”

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