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Sunshine and a Double Bank Holiday Give Domestic Tourism a Great Boost in April.

29 July 2011: VisitEngland, the national tourist board today reports that the warm weather and an extra bank holiday had a positive impact on domestic tourism, with overnight trips taken in Great Britain up by 5 per cent (12 million visits) making this April the best ever over the past 5 years.

Overnight trips taken in England were 8 per cent (9.9 million) higher than in April last year with a growth in tourism spend of 14 per cent (15 per cent in GB).  There were variations in terms of the purpose of the trip with, not surprisingly, holiday trips contributing most to the growth by 20 per cent compared to last year.  This trend has continued throughout the first four months of year with holiday trips overall being up 12 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.

Business tourism, which may have been expected to fall back given the extra bank holiday, also rose by 6  per cent in April which means that year to date business tourism figures are now up 3 per cent (January  – April) compared to the same period last year.

In contrast, trips to visit friends and relatives in April were 10 per cent lower than in April last year indicating that the holidays taken in this country possibly came at the expense of VFR trips during the Easter holidays.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive commented:

“April showed us that Brits do indeed love their bank holidays and the double bank holiday certainly helped to give domestic tourism in England a healthy boost.  We know that accommodation operators are confident of a good summer and with the trend to holiday at home clearly strong, tourism in England looks promising this year.”

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For more information contact:

Sarah Long, Head of Corporate Communications Tel: 020 7578 1452, Mob: 07500555651,