Paralympics boosted September tourism numbers

Overseas visitors coming to the London Paralympics helped boost tourist numbers in September as well as swell the amount they spent.

The number of trips to the UK made by foreign residents in September 2012 reached 2.63 million - a 1% rise on the September 2011 figure, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Spending during these visits soared 17% to more than £1.94 billion.

The ONS said that during the period of the Olympics, which started on July 27 and the Paralympics, which finished on September 9, an estimated 680,000 overseas visits were for "an Olympics or Paralympics-based purpose or involved attendance at a ticketed event".

The ONS added that 90,000 of these types of visits were completed in September 2012.

The publication of the September tourist figures today enabled the ONS to show the full impact of the Olympics and Paralympics on UK inbound tourism.

The ONS said that Games' organisers Locog had estimated that the total value of ticket sales (bought within and outside the UK) was approximately £580 million.

The ONS added that its figures for the amount spent in the UK by overseas residents for the period July-September 2012 included any tickets bought for London 2012 regardless of when the tickets were bought.

The ONS figures showed that visits by overseas residents to the UK in July-September 2012 fell 4% to 8.83 million compared with the same period last year but their spending rose 6% to £6.33 billion.

The number of visits to the UK by overseas residents in the first nine months of 2012 has reached 23.53 million - about the same as in January-September last year.

Spending by foreign visitors during their trips in the first nine months of this year has risen 5% to more than £14.26 billion.