(MENAFN- Gulf Times) VisitBritain, the national tourism agency of the United Kingdom (UK), has expressed confidence that more tourists from GCC countries will visit the UK despite the current global oil price slowdown.
Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of on Monday's "Great Britain Great Moments Campaign" launch in Doha, VisitBritain's Asia Pacific and Middle East regional general manager Sumathi Ramanathan said the number of visitors from the Gulf, including Qatar, is increasing year on year.
VisitBritain recorded around 59,000 visitors from Qatar in 2014 and 63,000 (46% are Qataris) in the first nine months of 2015, an increase of 33% on the same period in the previous year.
Tourist (Qatar visitors) spending reached £123mn in the same period, translating to 19% increase compared with 2014 figures.
At total of 576,000 tourists from the GCC visited the UK in the first nine months of 2015, an increase of 18% on the same period in 2014 with visitors spending £1.2bn (6% up).
Another factor she cited is the increasing investments of airline partners by launching more flights to a number of destinations to the UK to provide customers more choices while offering competitive airfares.
The UK electronic visa waver for selected countries also received a positive response from their target market.
"Number three, we invested £3mn into this market (Gulf) in the last three years and as you can see our relationship not only extends to the media and trade but it also goes to grassroots influencers who can actually talk to their peers and influence them," Ramanathan said. "A combination of these three factors means that we are in a good position."
While London has become a second home to many Qataris, UK is exerting efforts to promote destinations in the countryside such as Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Yorkshire, among others.
"Because of the football connection, Manchester is becoming more popular as well as Edinburgh because of World Heritage Sites and its dynamic culture," she added.
VisitBritain also sees the Gulf market starting to explore Birmingham because of its proximity to a shopping village and outlets.
According to Ramanathan, these destinations outside London have started to become popular particularly to families who travel with their children during holidays.
A number of UK products and handicraft have also attracted many tourists to visit the eastern part of London, a popular place of independent designers.
About the impact of the terrorist attacks in various places, she said such incidents happen across the world but will not prevent people from travelling from one country to another.
"Travellers are not allowing these incidences to stop them from travelling and I think that is really what is encouraging and the more people travel, the more they understand each other's culture, and the better it would be to build relationships," she noted.
"It is going to be a challenging climate in the next few years but Britain is holding itself well and I think we have invested significantly," said Ramanathan, who was bullish about the forecast for the Gulf region.
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