VisitBritain has revealed figures that show the increasing popularity of Britain from tourism powerhouse China, a strong French inbound market and record spend from Australia, Canada and the UAE.
The figures came from the Office for National Statistics' 2012 International Passenger Survey and recorded total spend of £18.6bn - a 4 per cent rise from 2011 - and a welcome 1 per cent rise in visits.
Looking at the market specific breakdown, there were no substantial changes to the top 10 countries from 2011, with close European neighbours France continuing to dominate the visit tables.
More than 3.8m people from France visited the UK last year, with a 30 per cent rise in spending to £1.5bn.
Germany, the USA, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands complete the top five. The Netherlands - along with Poland and Belgium - moved up the top ten rankings in 2012.
A record 179,000 visitors came to Britain from China in 2012 (up 20 per cent), spending a total of £300m (a rise of 25 per cent).
This means visitors from China spend an average of £1,676 per visit, nearly three times the average visitor spend.
High spending visitors from Australia and the UAE broke previous records, while Canadians, the Danish, Portuguese and Swiss also had a year of record spending.
Sandie Dawe, chief executive of VisitBritain said: "These figures prove that our ability to match government investment with funds from private sector partners is a winning formula.
"Our campaigns are working and tourism has once again shown its ability to deliver growth, revenue and jobs across Britain."
