VisitBritain today said that between February and April 2004, six million international visitors travelled to the UK, representing the highest ever-recorded number of visitors in this period. The increase has been driven by substantial growth in North America and Europe, two crucial markets for the industry.

VisitBritain chief executive, Tom Wright, said:

"This record number of visitors is evidence that the industry is in a recovery phase from what has been a series of challenging years. The greatest potential for future growth lies in emerging markets, such as China, Korea, Poland and Russia, where many of our competitors are already making significant investment. Continual growth depends on increased investment to strengthen the Britain brand worldwide if we are to reach our goal of a £100 billion industry by 2010."

He goes onto say:

"These positive results are a clear indication that the whole of Britain is beginning to reap the benefits of sustained marketing efforts around the world."

VisitBritain's forthcoming marketing activity is designed to build on these results for the second half of the year. Major multi-partner campaigns are scheduled throughout VisitBritain's key overseas markets aimed at further raising the profile and brand of Britain to stimulate bookings. Building on the success of the 2003 'City Breaks' campaign, the organisation will continue this initiative throughout Europe to capitalise on the recent growth in popularity of city break travel. 'Good Living Britain' targets audiences in Europe, Asia, North and South America keen to relax and re-charge their batteries. And 'Touring Britain', aims to encourage visitors to explore the country and experience real British life, this campaign will also entice them to travel more widely.

Examples of immediate activity planned for the summer months includes: a campaign in partnership with STA Travel in America targeting the youth market with a joint music promotion; a series of promotions at gardens centres around Germany in support of the 'Year of Gardening' campaign and sponsorship and branding of London black cabs in Singapore to inspire consumer enquiries.

The roll out of VisitBritain's third generation website, www.visitbritain.com will also be an important tool for capturing visitor information and vital data on consumer trends thus further growing the organisation's consumer database. The website will be available in 33 countries and 19 languages, including new sites in Chinese, Korean, Polish and Russian.