Jasmine Directory

Tourism is one of UK's most profitable industries. Currently 1 of 12 jobs in the country is significantly supported by tourism, statistics showing that tourism is a major part of UK's economy. In 2009 the tourism industry brought approximately 8.9% of the county's GDP. Annually, for each country, tourism is worth billions to the economy.

In England tourism brings £96.7 billion amounting 8.6% of GDP, Scotland makes £11.1 billion from tourism totaling 10.4% of GDP, tourism offers Wales 13.3% of its GDP by earning the country approximately £6.2 billion and in Northern Ireland tourism is equivalent to 4.9% of GDP, bringing £1.5 billion.

In 2012, the UK made well over £23 billion solely from overnight tourism. A 2012 statistic shows that the top 3 non-resident visitors in the UK, judging by their visiting frequency, are of French, German and US citizenship.

UK's most visited cities are: London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions released the 2012 top 5 UK attraction judging by the number of visitor admissions.

The British Museum holds 1st place with a total of 5.6 million visitor admissions and the V&A (South Kensington) is at number 5 with 3.2 million visitor admissions.

In 2012 the UK was awarded the 8th position in both the UNWTO international tourist arrivals league and the international tourism earnings league.