Football tourism on the rise, VisitBritain report shows
Thursday 10 September 2015 20:02, UK
The number of football tourists visiting the United Kingdom is up, according to new research from VisitBritain.
A new report shows an increase of more than 50,000 in five years in the number of people taking in a live football match on a trip to the country.
VisitBritain say more than 800,000 visitors went to a game in 2014 and spent a combined £684m, a 15 per cent increase on the estimated figure from 2010.
The north-west of England and London are the two most popular football destinations for tourists, with one in 10 visitors to the north-west attending a live match.
One in 20 saw a game while in the north-east, while 2.5 per cent of all visits to Wales featured a trip to the football.
Most football tourists came from Europe, the Republic of Ireland coming in top with 121,000 ahead of Norway (93,000), Sweden (58,000) and the United States (53,000).
And international business visitors were regulars at football grounds, 40,000 attending games in 2014.
