The United Kingdom recorded a growing interest from Arabian Gulf residents even before it implemented visa-free travel for a few countries in the region.
In the first three quarters of last year, the total numbers of visitors from Gulf countries increased by 10 per cent on the same period in 2012. And the per-trip spending also rose by 11 per cent.
About 452,000 visitors from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar spent more than £1 billion (Dh6.03bn) during the time.
The latest figures from Visit Britain, the tourism agency of the United Kingdom, were released at the weekend.
They do not provide a breakdown by country, and do not distinguish whether visitors from the UAE were UAE residents or citizens. Since last month, Emiratis, Omanis and Qatari nationals could apply for an electronic visa waiver to visit the UK.
In its latest marketing partnership, Visit Britain last month signed a three-year, £2-million deal with Etihad Airways.
Visitors from Gulf countries have a long-standing love-affair with Britain.
For 2012 as a whole, Britain registered 530,000 visitors from the Gulf, with nearly half coming the UAE followed by 111,000 from Saudi Arabia. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of visitors from Kuwait and Qatar rose the fastest, clocking 47 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.
The Gulf visitors form only a small fraction of the UK’s total tourist numbers. About 32 million tourists from across the world visited the country the same year.
But the Gulf tourists are among the highest spenders.
They spent £1.17 billion in 2012, up from £744 million in 2008 after dipping marginally in 2010 and 2011 during the global financial crisis.
The spending per person per trip, which typically lasted two weeks, by the UAE visitors in 2012 was about £2,500 (Dh15,000). That ranked the visitors from the UAE 11th globally.
They were just behind visitors from Saudi Arabia, who spent £3,245 per person.
ssahoo@thenational.ae