Brit tourism on the mend
Rates up 23% to 1.7m with the virus as new Omicron hits hard
BRITAIN’S tourism industry is bouncing back from Covid but is still a third down on pre-pandemic levels, figures reveal.
The Office for National Statistics says there were 2.1 million visits in April.
Though vastly up from the 81,000 during the same month last year, it compares badly to the 3.2 million in April 2019.
Patricia Yates, VisitBritain head, said: “There is pent-up demand for international travel.
“We’ve been out in key overseas markets with our Welcome To Another Side of Britain campaign.”
COVID-19 infections have soared by 23% in a week with all UK regions seeing a spike.
Around 1.7 million people in private households are estimated to have had the virus in the past seven days week, with the rise likely to be caused by the more contagious Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
Summer mixing and waning immunity are also thought to be drivers of the surge.
The number of people in hospital with Covid is also on an upward trend in most parts of the country, suggesting the virus is becoming steadily more prevalent.
Some 6,752 patients in England had Covid on June 24, up 34% on the previous week. Wales has seen patient numbers jump 40% week on week, hitting 375 on June 23. Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Our data shows 17.5% of people aged 75 years and over have not had a vaccine within the past six months, putting them more at risk of severe disease. We urge them to get up to date.” Total infections are now at levels last seen at the end of April. They are also higher than the peak during the second wave of the virus in January 2021. The new Omicron variants are thought to be the most dominant strains in much of Britain.