UK tourism hits record

ToUrISm in Britain is booming, with travel bosses celebrating their best visitor numbers since records began.

official figures show people from overseas made 4m visits to the UK in July – the highest number ever for a single month, and up 6pc on 2016.

The weaker pound also gave tourists more bang for their buck, spurring them to splash out £2.7bn on their visits, up 3pc on last year.

americans are coming in everincreasing numbers. Patricia Yates, director of Visit Britain, said: ‘London has always been the star of British tourism but we want to encourage people to explore more – that message now seems to be cutting through.’

The most popular locations included the Tate modern, The Victoria and albert museum, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster abbey in London, William Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-avon, the Titanic Belfast museum, Edinburgh Castle and the National museum of Scotland.

meanwhile, the number of trips made by British holidaymakers overseas fell.