VisitBritain targets 40% increase in Middle East visitors by 2020
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Britain has been a popular destination among Middle East travellers.
Riding on this growth and looking to further strengthen its presence, top tourism executive from VisitBritain are touring key markets in the Gulf to augment future UK visitor numbers from the region, according to VisitBritain’s newly-opened APME regional hub office.
Outbound travel from the Gulf region to Britain has been AED 5.2 billion during 2011, which is around five per cent of all spending. The UK received 459,000 visits from the GCC region in 2011, a 19.8% increase on 2010. VisitBritain also reports that by 2020 there is potential for the annual number of visits to Britain from the UAE to be 40 per cent up on the record year of 2009, which welcomed 344,400 visitors. The latest statistics show that UAE visits are up nine per cent.
As per regions from 2006 – 11, the top three market continue to be Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE showing an increase in visitor numbers at 60%, 59% and 36% respectively, with Qatar and Kuwait topping the spend per night list.
VisitBritain chief executive officer Sandie Dawe said: “We look forward to making 2013 an even more memorable year, to include greeting nearly one million additional international visitors to Britain.”