The tourism sector is leading the way in the UK’s economic recovery, according to a new report submitted at a parliamentary reception.

UKinbound, the trade association representing the UK’s inbound tourism sector, released the report at the parliamentary reception hosted by MP John Penrose and designed for politicians to meet representatives from the various sectors.

The report revealed that tourism to the UK is leading the way as far as the UK economy goes, outperforming other sectors of the economic recovery and showing steady employment growth, compared to other sectors.

The report tracked and benchmarked the performance of UKinbound’s 330 plus members, using statistics gathered from a membership survey, the results of which were compared to and supported by official national data.

In addition the tourism industry was compared to the services, manufacturing and construction industries using Markit/CIPS index linking.

The results showed that out of all six categories, inbound tourism was the clear leader.

Key finding showed that 66 per cent of UK tourism businesses have reported an increase in sector activity, while almost 40 per cent of UK tourism businesses have hired extra staff over the past year. In addition, 54 per cent of UK tourism businesses have expressed confidence that the sector will see significant growth in 2014.

“Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK,” said UKinbound chief executive, Mary Rance. “The revenue generated by the industry grew by £9bn in 2012. If this success was replicated across other sectors of the economy, the economic recovery of the UK would be well on track.

“We remain hopeful that this report will help place tourism at the top of the political agenda. safeguarding its position in the future, growing tourism to the uk and spearheading the economic regeneration.”