According to the organisation’s ‘Tourism Business Monitor’ 55 percent of accommodation businesses and 66 percent of visitor attractions reported increased visitors numbers, representing the highest increase since the survey started.
James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive said: “The unexpected heat wave of 2013 has certainly given English tourism a shot in the arm with operators and destinations throughout the country reporting soaring figures. What is especially encouraging is that this improvement in visitor numbers has boosted optimism in the industry with the majority of our businesses predicting 2013 to be a better year than 2012.”
Hotels, camp and caravan sites and outdoor attractions have also seen a greater year on year improvement than other sector, driven by an increase in all visitor types. Hotels are especially confident looking forward to the October half term.
This year’s boost has backed up the tourist board’s claim since the events of 2012 that there’s a continued thirst for holidays in England. Looking ahead, 56 percent of accommodation businesses describe forward bookings as good, compared to 51 precent at this time last year. Across both accommodation, and attractions sectors, levels of confidence for the Autumn period are also slightly higher than in September 2012.
Travelbite.co.uk