Ten things you never knew about... tourism

This is English Tourism Week, run in association with VisitEngland.com, so here are some facts about tourism in general. 1. The first tourism trip was on July 5, 1841 when Thomas Cook ran a trip to Loughborough for members of his local temperance association in Market Harborough. 2. He hired a special train to take 570 people to Leicester and back for one shilling (5p) each. 3. Cook’s first package tour was a six-day trip to Paris, starting at London Bridge on May 17, 1861. 4. In 2015, overseas visitors made 36.1 million visits to the UK and spent £22.1billion.

5. Tourism accounts for around nine per cent of our national economy.

6. More tourists come here from France than any other country but American visitors spend more than twice as much money.

7. According to a recent survey, clothing and toiletries are the most common items left in hotel rooms by tourists, followed by phone chargers.

8. Towels are the most common item stolen by tourists from hotel rooms. 9. Around e3,000 (£2,600) is tossed into the Trevi Fountain in Rome every day by tourists. 10. In 2014 there were 2.36 million visits by tourists to Andorra which is 33.5 times their population.