The United Kingdom continues to attract tourists from around the world, with tourism spending in Britain hitting a record high in the first six months of 2015, generating £9.5 billion for the UK economy.

Tourism spending in the first six months of 2015 reached £9.5 billion in the UK economy.

The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that tourist visits rose by 3% in the first six months of 2015, outperforming figures for the same period the previous year. The report showed that English regions outside London were the big winners during the period with a 6% increase in both visits and spending in the second quarter of the year compared to 2014.

The report added. The report added that GCC spending in the UK amounted to £677 million, an increase of 3%, while huge amounts flowed in from the USA, China, Italy and Belgium

Visit numbers from growth markets such as China saw an increase of 28% with a record 90,000 visits in the first half of the year, and the Arabian Gulf saw an increase of 2% with a record number of visits of 282,000 and spending of 677

Gulf countries saw an increase of 2% with a record number of visits of 282,000 and spending of 677

While the 6.5 million global visits to the UK for holidays equaled the record numbers recorded during the same period in 2014, visits to friends and relatives and business visits during the first six months of this year continued to grow significantly, with business visits recording a strong recovery, rising by 11% during the first six months, setting a new record of 4.4 million, the highest number of business visits ever in the first half of the year.

While global visits to the UK for holidays equaled the record numbers recorded during the same period in 2014, visits to friends and relatives and business visits continued to grow significantly.