Tourist numbers hit record level

BIRMINGHAM welcomed the highest number of visitors on record in 2016, with tourist numbers reaching 39 million, and tourism revenue hitting an all-time high of £6.5 billion.

The number of fulltime jobs supported by the sector now stands at 70,365.

The figures have been released by Marketing Birmingham’s research arm the Regional Observatory and tourism research body Global Tourism Solutions.

Visitor numbers represent a 2.5 per cent increase on the figures achieved for 2015 – a year in which there was more than £1 billionworth of investment in the city centre alone and saw the opening of Grand Central and the Rugby World Cup come to town.

The region has attracted increasing numbers of tourists from India, the US and the Netherlands, with visitors from China generating the highest amount of expenditure per head.

Events contributing to Birmingham’s upsurge in visitor spending last year included cricket at Edgbaston Stadium (£17.7 million), Birmingham and Solihull Jazz and Blues Festival (£6.2 million) and the Conservative Party Conference at the ICC (£18.4 million).

Last year was also the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s legacy, with tribute shows hosted by the REP and Hippodrome theatres and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.