Britain gives ‘world class’ welcome to foreign tourists

Overseas visitors feel more than twice as welcome in the UK than they did five years ago, according to a new report by VisitBritain.

Top British tourist attraction,Buckingham Palace . Image by Edwin Lee / CC BY 2.0

The national tourism agency found 42% of international visitors departing the UK felt extremely welcome in Britain, which is more than double the 19% who said they felt this way in 2009 and an increase on 30% in 2012.

The Britain’s welcome to overseas visitors’ report also found 89% of the 5000 people surveyed felt extremely or very welcome in Britain and 93% of those were extremely or very likely to recommend a visit to family and friends.

Tracey Crouch, minister for tourism, said: “It’s great to see that more overseas tourists are getting a world class welcome when they visit us. UK tourism is a global success story and more tourists leaving with positive memories of their stay can only help spread the word that the UK is the place to visit.”

The nationalities who felt the most welcome were Danes and Canadians, closely followed by people from Sweden, India and the USA, the survey revealed.

Patricia Yates, VisitBritain Director added: “We know that being considered friendly and welcoming can really make a difference to people’s travel decisions and whether they would recommend a destination. In an era where social media recommendations from friends are so important, it is great to see these historically weaker areas continuing to improve.”

(Press Association)