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Date: Thursday 14 Aug 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - The number of overseas visitors to the UK fell by 5% in the second quarter of 2008, although associated earnings from them remained pretty much the same at £4.1bn.

A seasonally-adjusted 8.1m overseas residents enjoyed the sights of Britain between April and June, 400,000 less than the previous three months, said the Office for National Statistics.

The number dropped 3% to 32.5m over the 12 months, with the number of North Americans over here down 8% to 4.3m. Visits by Europeans fell 2% to 23.6m.

Britons were also less inclined to travel abroad during the three months, while those that did spent less. Some 17.7m of us left the country, down 1%, with spending 2% lower at £9.1bn.

But the 12 month figure showed the credit crunch has failed to dent our enthusiasm for long-haul destinations. Visits to Europe were up 1%, little changed to North America, but up 3% to other parts of the world.

Third quarter results released today by travel giant TUI Travel revealed a 39% rise in underlying operating profit and 9% hike in revenue to £3.6bn.

It said consumer demand for package holidays remains strong, although it will make further reductions to capacity in summer 2009, particularly in the UK and Germany.

Thomas Cook was equally upbeat yesterday.

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