Visitors flock to historic properties

VISITENGLAND'S Annual Attractions Survey shows historic properties experienced significant growth in visitor numbers in 2017.

Of the 1,400 English attractions surveyed the research found that historic properties such as mills, monuments, boats and burial grounds saw the largest increase in visitor numbers, up 8% on 2016.

The British Museum was the most visited 'free' attraction in England in 2017 for the 10th consecutive year with nearly 6 million visitors, and the Tate Modern came a close second with more than five and a half million.

The Tower of London topped the list as the most visited ‘paid for’ attraction for the ninth year running with 2.8 million visitors and Chester Zoo came in second place with 1.9 million.



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Welcome to Abu Dhabi

THE opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island and the hosting of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix contributed to a dramatic surge in hotel guests staying in the emirate during November. 

The month saw a 16 percent rise in guests staying in the emirate’s 162 hotels and hotel apartments compared to the same period in 2016, according to figures released by the Department of Culture and Tourism. 

With 4.3 million hotel guests staying in accommodation across #AbuDhabi city, Al Ain Region and Al Dhafra Region in the first 11 months of the year, the emirate has witnessed 9 percent year-on-year growth and is on target to reach a record 4.9 million guests by the end of December.

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August bank Holiday a boost to UK economy

RECENTLY published VisitEngland’s August Bank Holiday Trip Tracker survey shows that 6.9 million Brits are planning an overnight holiday trip in the UK this weekend, bringing an estimated £1.7 billion boost to the UK economy.

The figures show an increase on last year’s results when 5.1 million adults in Britain planned to take an overnight holiday trip in the UK during the August Bank Holiday weekend.

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International arrivals numbers surge in Indonesia

HEAD of Indonesia's National Statistics Board, Suharyanto, on 1 August confirmed that international arrivals to #Indonesia for Semester I (January through June 2017) has surged 22.4% reaching a total of 6.48 million visitors, up from the 5.29 million in 2016 year on year.

As for arrivals in June, this has jumped 31.6% reaching 1.13 million visitors, compared to 857,650 visitors in June 2016.

This impressive increase in arrivals is in no small measure due to the excellently coordinated and rapid development of new airports in major tourist destinations, expansion of runways, as at Labuan Bajo's Komodo airport and the Silangit airport by Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

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International figures peak thanks to British & Irish Lions tour

INTERNATIONAL visitor arrivals from the UK and Ireland peaked at 23,400 in June thanks to the British and Irish Lions tour.  It was the highest number of combined monthly visitors to New Zealand from both countries since the last tour in June 2005.

Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive Stephen England-Hall says, “The Lions tour was a demonstration of exactly what we are trying to achieve - visitors travelling to different parts of the country in our off-peak months.

“It’s also a great example of why we support major events like this which bring benefits to the New Zealand economy overall and to local communities that benefit from the influx of tourists.

“A big part of the Lions tour success was down to amazing Kiwi hospitality. The incredible welcome extended to the fans that travelled the country for six weeks was manaakitanga at its very best.”

The latest data released by Statistics New Zealand today also shows strong holiday arrivals growth on the previous year from Australia (9.7%), Indonesia (48.1%), Malaysia (53.6%) and Singapore (9.0%).

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Congratulations Canada!

THE numbers are in: in 2016, Canada welcomed 19,979,334 travellers—the highest number since 2002 and second highest ever.

International arrivals increased by 16% in Destination Canada’s overseas markets, and 10% in the US market, for an average of 11% growth across the board.

Key highlights:

• 2016 was best year for Canadian tourism in 14 years, only 0.4% below the record set in 2002.
• Arrivals from Destination Canada’s 10 overseas markets increased by 16% over 2015 levels.
• A record-breaking number of US travellers arrived by air to Canada, an increase of over 17% over 2015.
• New arrivals records set in the following Destination Canada markets:

       South Korea - 244,442 arrivals, an increase of 30% over 2015
       China - 610,139 arrivals, an increase of 24% over 2015
       Australia - 333,437 arrivals, an increase of 16% over 2015
       India - 215,664 arrivals, an increase of 13% over 2015
       France - 545,786 arrivals, an increase of 9% over 2015
       Brazil - 114,261 arrivals, an increase of 2% over 2015.

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Travel stats around Brits’ most wanted holiday

WITH summer soon approaching, April is the month where most people typically get their summer holiday plans in place.1030 Brits were among the 23,149 people momondo surveyed about their #travel habits. Below are insights into the most wanted #holiday among Brits.

• A partner or spouse is the preferred travel companion for 66% of Brits 
• 26% prefer to spend their money on travelling 
• 59% prefer to stay at a hotel when on holiday 
• Price is the determining factor for more than half of Brits when it comes to choosing a flight (50%) and a hotel (54%) 
• For 40% of Brits, the number of stars affects the choice of holiday accommodation to a great and very great extent 
• The average holiday length is 7 days 
• For UK breaks hotels are booked 22 days in advance, whereas hotels abroad are booked 35 days before arrival 
• 37% of Brits upload photos from their holiday to social media 
• For Brits, accommodation is the thing most people prefer to save money on in connection to the holiday (29%), whereas fewer are willing to save money on sightseeing and excursions (19%)

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UK sees record breaking start to 2017 inbound tourism

OFFICIAL figures out today show a record-breaking start to the year for inbound tourism to Britain.  

The figures show that a new record has been set for inbound visits to the UK in the first two months of the year with 5.2 million visits, up 6% on the same period last year. 

• Overseas visitors spent a record £2.7 billion in January and February, up 11% on the previous year.

• There were 3.6 million visits from the EU in January and February, up 5% on the previous year. 

• Strong growth was also seen in holiday visits in January and February, up 15% on the same period in 2016 with 1.6 million visits.

• VisitBritain’s forecast predicts that growth is set to continue in 2017 with 38.8 million visits and with spending reaching £23.9 billion.

 

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Facts & Figures . . .

TOURIST arrivals to #SriLanka grew by 13 percent reaching 219,360 visitors last month, which is an all time record for the month of January, despite the partial airport closure, tourism ministry said.

The ministry has been spearheading efforts to mitigate the fallout from the daytime closure of the Bandaranaike International Airport in order to facilitate rehabilitation of the two decade old runway.

Sri Lanka crossed the 2 million arrivals threshold for the first time in its history last year.

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VisitBritain forecast 2017 set to be another record year for inbound tourism

Spending by overseas visitors is predicted to reach £24.1 billion in 2017, an 8% increase on spending this year which is expected to top out at £22.3 billion.

The number of overseas visitors to the UK is expected to rise next year to 38.1 million visits, up 4% on 2016 which is likely to see about 36.7 million visits by year end.

VisitBritain is positioning Britain as a must-go-now holiday destination through its global #OMGB ‘Home of Amazing Moments’ campaigns to promote the amazing experiences that can only be had here. It is part of the UK Government’s global GREAT Britain campaign, which showcases the very best of what Britain has to offer as a place to visit, study, invest and do business.

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Picture Credit: Linus Leijon photograpy flickr.com/photos/130133895@N05/20473259622 via photopin

Record figures continue into the Autumn for Cumbria

PROVISIONAL figures from #Cumbria Tourism’s research team reveal record occupancy levels continued well into the Autumn months for the county’s accommodation providers. The news is a positive boost for the organisation’s winter marketing campaign that has been designed to generate bookings and raise awareness of what’s on in Cumbria over the traditionally quieter months.

• In September: Cumbria’s overall room occupancy was the highest for a decade, hitting 79.4%.

• In October: Serviced accommodation room occupancy at 68.3% was as strong as 2015 (which was the highest recorded for several years).

• Self-catering occupancy hit 66.9% in October – the highest EVER recorded for an October.

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Picture Credit:LEALSWEE flickr.com/photos/88309844@N07/30262484774 Morning fires via photopin

Aloha! Record numbers visit Hawaii

A TOTAL of 780,723 visitors came to the Hawaiian Islands in August 2016, the most ever recorded for the month of August, according to preliminary statistics released by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA). 

This represented an increase of 3.1 percent from last August and also extended Hawai‘i’s streak to 19 consecutive months of year-over-year growth in arrivals.

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Picture Credit: Lolligag World 35324560@N08/29331301283 Aloha! Lolligag Hand-Painted Prototype via photopin.com

4.9 Million tourists to South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA continues to enjoy a strong growth in tourist arrivals with a 15.4% increase overall for the first six months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of South African Tourism, Sthembiso Dlamini, is delighted with these results, “#Tourism continues to grow in #SouthAfrica. We are really excited by the significant growth we have seen out of Asia as China is one of our key source markets. We are also delighted to see the growth on tourist arrivals from the rest of Africa. In a difficult 2015, we continued to focus on building brand South Africa and we are pleased to see this paying off. The overall growth speaks volumes about the efforts made by private and public industry stakeholders to further enhance travel opportunities to the country.”

“The positive increase is central to what we aspire to achieve as a country – to create more jobs, have a sustainable and transformed industry that can accommodate more tourists, as well ensure that our industry continues to contribute positively to the GDP,” Dlamini concluded.

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South Africa sees 15.4% increase on tourist numbers

SOUTH AFRICA continues to enjoy a strong growth trajectory in tourist arrivals with a 15.4% increase overall for the first six months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015.

The 15.4% translates to more than 4.9 million tourists from across the globe. Asia leads the growth with an increase of over 40% with close to 162 000 tourists coming from this region during this period. Europe still dominates as the key source market with 697 373 tourists coming from Europe. This is a 14.7% increase when compared to the same period last year.

North American travellers coming to #SouthAfrica increased by nearly 18% while Central and South American tourists increased by 17%. Australasia’s tourist arrivals to South Africa grew by 10.8% during the same period.

Africa exhibited strong growth with a 14.4% increase in travellers coming from the rest of the continent, which signifies a strong recovery from 2015.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of South African Tourism, Sthembiso Dlamini, is delighted with these results, “Tourism continues to grow in South Africa. The positive increase is central to what we aspire to achieve as a country – to create more jobs, have a sustainable and transformed industry that can accommodate more tourists, as well ensure that our industry continues to contribute positively to the GDP” 

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Picture Credit: 114138418@N08/15471742305 Lyndenburg (Mpumalanga) on the way to Nelspruit, South Africa via photopin.com

Up in the air . . .

FLYBE has beaten its main rivals Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways in the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Punctuality Statistics’ report for 2015. The report found the airline outperformed its industry rivals in terms of on-time arrivals for the second consecutive year.

The report places Flybe in top spot for airlines which operate more than 30,000 flights a year, with 84% of its flights recorded as being on time, ahead of Ryanair (82.1%), British Airways (72.7%) and easyJet (71.7%).

The report analysed airline performance from arrival and departure data provided by the CAA’s 25 UK reporting airports for airline’s on-time performance (defined by a less than 15 minute delay). Flybe has bucked the trend, improving year on year from 82% to 84%, whilst at the same time overall industry performance was reported to have dropped from 79% to 76.6% versus 2014.

FLYBE has started operating a fifth daily weekday flight between Leeds Bradford and Belfast.

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UK households set for travel spend boom

A STUDY commissioned by the Visa payment card organization has forecast significant growth in international travel by British households in the next decade. UK spend on global travel is predicted to reach £63.4 billion in 2025, up 58 percent on 2015.

On average, each UK household is set to spend £9,300 annually by 2025, up from £6,500 in 2015.

The study, conducted by Oxford Economics, looked at current travel patterns of Visa-branded cardholders across the globe combined with industry estimates and forecasts for travel.

According to the study, the Brits will rank as the second-highest spenders on foreign travel in Europe by 2025, just slightly behind the Germans, and the fourth globally.

Spend by older travellers is forecast to drive overall growth in the UK over the next decade. The number of outbound trips taken by over 65-year-olds is set to grow at 6.5 percent annually between 2015 and 2025, compared with 3.8 percent for 35-64 year-olds, and 1.3 percent for under 34 year-olds.

Globally, estimated cross-border travel around the globe will rise steeply to £979.9 billion in 2025, when China is predicted to have the highest level of household spending, reaching £167.1 billion.

The study identified key drivers expected to impact global travel over the next decade, including a growing middle class globally, greater internet connectivity, improved transportation infrastructure across many countries, and an aging global population with more time for leisure travel.

Kevin Jenkins, managing director UK & Ireland, Visa Europe, commented: ‘Britons’ love of travelling shows no signs of abating. In the next decade, we’ll see an expanding travelling class that will spend a growing portion of their household income on international travel.’

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Cruise sector generates £2.58bn for UK economy

THE #CRUISE industry is worth £2.58 billion a year to the UK economy, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which has published its annual European Economic Contribution report.

The industry’s direct contribution to the British economy, including goods and services purchased by cruise lines and the salaries of their employees, grew by 3.3 percent, making it the highest on record.

The industry’s economic output in Europe reached £32.22 billion, up two percent on the previous year, and an all-time high.

Employment in the UK cruise industry grew by 4.1 percent to 73,919 jobs and accounted for 20 percent of the market share in Europe.

Southampton has maintained its position as the number one embarkation and disembarkation port in Northern Europe, with a total of 1.75 million passengers passing through in 2015.

Says Andy Harmer, CLIA Europe VP Operations: ‘The figures bear testament to the cruise industry’s contribution to the UK economy. Cruise may have once been considered a travel niche but the multi-billion valuation shows that it’s now a major player within the travel sector. 

‘Every year, new ships enter into service, offering innovative activities and facilities and 2015 was no exception, with a number of significant developments for the UK cruise market including the naming of P&O Cruises’ Britannia by Her Majesty The Queen, Cruise and Maritime Voyages introducing Magellan, and Royal Caribbean’s new ship Anthem of the Seas joining the worldwide fleet.’


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