Rise in number of visitors to UK

LONDON, Dec 14 (KUNA) — The number of overseas visitors to the UK increased last October following falls in the previous three months, according to official figures released here Friday.
Foreign residents made 2.74 million visits to the UK last October compared with 2.51 million in the same month last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The rise came despite fewer visits from North Americans, which was made up for by a rise in the number of European tourists.
The October figure took the year-to-date total of overseas visits to the UK to 27.55 million, about the same as for the January-October 2006 period.
So far this year, visits by North Americans are five percent down while European tourist levels are one percent up.
The overseas tourists spent 1.37 billion pounds during their trips to the UK last October, a slight rise on the figure of 1.35 billion pounds spent in October 2006.
The ONS also announced that the number of trips taken abroad by UK residents fell from 6.66 million in October 2006 to 6.54 million in October this year.
Despite the attractiveness of the American dollar for UK holidaymakers, trips by Britons to North America fell from 542,000 in October 2006 to 470,000 in October 2007, the ONS added.