New statistics from VisitBritain show that in the first nine months of 2016, a record number of tourists visited locations outside of London, with 12.2 million people visiting the regions around Britain.

A 4 per cent increase year-on-year in terms of visitors, spend by international visitors also rose to £5.9bn – an increase of 2 per cent.

For English regions outside of London, 4.9 million people visited from overseas, up 3 per cent on 2015’s figures.

The top two markets for visits to the English regions from January to September, outside of London, were Germany and France. Looking at longer haul markets, visits from the US to the regions were up 5 per cent to 903,000 and Canada up 15 per cent to 280,000.

In Wales, inbound visits increased 12 per cent, with 856,000 overseas visitors spending a record £367m – a 9 per cent increase.

For Scotland, overseas visitors spent £1.6bn during the period – a rise of 12 per cent. Visits also grew 4 per cent to 2.2 million, the strongest year to date since 2007.

VisitBritain’s latest inbound tourism forecast predicts further growth in 2017 with 38.1 million visits, up 4 per cent on 2016 which is likely to see about 36.7 million visits by year end overall.

“This country has so much to offer tourists from both home and abroad and we want to make it even easier for visitors to experience our world-class sights and attractions,” said tourism minister, Tracey Crouch.

“Our Tourism Action Plan and £40m Discover England Fund is helping to grow tourism to ensure that the benefits of this important industry are felt right across the country.”