Data from the airline Emirates shows a growing number of affluent tourists from Asia, Australia, and the UAE are planning to visit the UK.
This includes a significant rise in first class bookings from China and India, by 27% and 17% respectively.
Jabr Al-Azeeby, divisional vice president in the UK for Emirates, said: “The UK is one of the most important markets in Emirates’ global network, and the growth in bookings we’ve seen over the past year reflects that.
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“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in inbound arrivals from key destinations such as Australia, India, and China, driving forward economic growth here in the UK.
“Our partnership with Visit Britain underscores our commitment to grow tourism for the UK from key strategic markets, and we look forward to welcoming more of our global customers to the UK in 2025 and beyond.”
Glasgow is set to see a large increase in Chinese visitors, with inbound travel from Beijing predicted to rise by 18% year-on-year.
This is expected to bring a boost to the local economy, contributing to the UK Government’s aim of attracting 50 million visitors annually by 2030.
Emirates currently operates a daily A380 service to Glasgow, among its 133 weekly flights across the UK.
The airline has recently signed a declaration of intent with VisitBritain to increase tourism to the UK from the Middle East, Far East Asia, and Australasia.
Patricia Yates, chief executive officer of VisitBritain, said: “Expanding airline routes and seat capacity into our regional gateways is crucial to our competitive tourism offer and to our welcome and it’s great to see the growth from destinations across the Emirates network.
“International visitors are forecast to spend more than £34 billion in the UK this year, year-on-year growth of 11%.”