Visitors from China are becoming a bigger and bigger part of Britain’s tourism economy with a 47% surge in visitors in the first half of 2017 compared to 2016, with 115,000 visitors.
The impact of that increase can be seen in spending as well, with a 54% increase to £231 million or about $308 million. Average spending by Chinese visitors is about triple the average of other visitors, but part of that can be explained by longer average trips—20 days, compared to 7.
At a 3-day tourism promotion meeting earlier this month in Guangzhou, UK tourism officials described China as the most valuable outbound tourism market. VisitBritain director Patricia Yates says “To woo more Chinese tourists, we will show the Chinese tourism operators the amazing characters of UK’s tourism sector, such as luxury train trips, delicacies and other attractions.”
Above: Chinese tourists meet kilted Scot in Edinburgh. Kim Traynor/Wikimedia
