You are here: ASDA Financial Services > Latest news > Sport-mad tourists spend £900 per trip

Sport-mad tourists spend £900 per trip

15th July 2010

Foreign tourists travelling to Britain to watch and play sport spend an average of £900 on their trip, according to figures.

Three million sport-mad foreign tourists forked out £2.3 billion of travel money on their passion, amounting to 14% of spending by visitors in 2008. The average cost of £900 per sport related trip is higher than those who are not sport fans, who spend around £500.

Sporting events at venues such as Lord's and Hampden Park pulled in a total of £1.3 billion, while similar amounts were spent by 1.4 million people who competed in amateur sport in more modest settings in 2008. A number of visitors participated and watched sport in the same trip, national tourism agency VisitBritain found.

With the London 2012 Games just two years away, VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe said she was encouraged by the figures as they suggest growing popularity for British sport.

The proportion of visitors either watching or playing sport increased from 6% in 2001 to nearly 10% in 2008. Tourism executives may find the figures useful in helping to identify key markets, both old and new, to target.

Football was first in the popularity stakes, with around 1.2 million overseas spectators going to a match. Golf was a big deal for the American tourist as 94,000 came over in 2008 to play. They were joined by 66,000 Germans, 44,000 French, 30,000 Spanish and 28,000 Irish.

The second most popular sport was horseracing. Crowds totalling six million people, many from abroad, flocked to more than 8,000 races annually at courses all over the country.

Copyright © Press Association 2010