Visits from Australia and New Zealand soar during Rugby World Cup

Visits from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to the UK saw double-digit growth from October to December last year, boosted by the Rugby World Cup.

New figures from VisitBritain found visits from New Zealand increased by 52% to more than 40,000, with visitors spending more than £63m during the period – almost twice as much as 2014.

Visits and spend from Australia both increased some 20% to 219,000 and £254m respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, inbound tourism from South Africa was up 30% to 58,000, with spend also up 6% to £77m.

Patricia Yates, director at VisitBritain, said: “Britain shone in the global spotlight as the host of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and it’s great to see the huge growth in visits and spend from some of the world’s top rugby-watching nations including Australia, our fourth most valuable market.

“Almost half a million international visitors attended matches and events across 11 host cities throughout the seven week tournament which gave these areas fantastic global exposure, introducing new places to many overseas visitors.”

Published earlier this week, ‘The Economic Impact of Rugby World Cup 2015’ report found last year’s Rugby World Cup generated nearly £2.3bn in economic output.

It said the 406,000 international visitors each stayed for 14 days in the UK, spending £958m, at an average of £2,400 per person. This breaks down to £270m on accommodation, £233m on leisure activities, £188m on food and drink, £156m on travel and £111m on retail.

Last year set a record for inbound tourism to Britain, with visits up 5% on 2014 to 36.1 million and spend up 1% to £22.1bn.