Tag Archives: VisitBritain

The latest UK Visa and VisitBritain statistics show that more visitors than ever before are visiting the UK from India. Visa statistics for the year ending June 2016 show that over 380,000 visit visas were issued, an increase of six per cent or 20,000 visitors. Meanwhile the latest VisitBritain figures from the Office of National Statistics, International Passenger Survey show that over 422,000 visitors came to the UK from India last year, an eight per cent increase from 2014 and a 20 per cent increase from 2012. Sumathi Ramanathan, VisitBritain Director for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa said, “India is a priority growth market for Britain and is one of the seven markets globally to receive additional funding for tourism promotion. Our partnership with the airlines, travel industry and Indian movie industry has enabled us to reach new customers in the major cities of India. Increasingly, we are seeing demand for British itineraries covering London, Manchester, Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh. As the market evolves, we will continue improving and enhancing the travel offer for the Indian visitor.”

As part of VisitBritain’s new strategy in India, VisitBritain is moving its headquarters from New Delhi to Mumbai and has named Vishal Bhatia, B2B and Deputy Country Manager as the Interim Country Manager from July 1 till September 30, 2016. He will replace outgoing Country Manager Shivali Suri who was based in the Delhi office. Bhatia is based at the British High Commission in Mumbai.

In a network restructuring of its overseas offices, VisitBritain has decided to make Mumbai its head office in India. At present the main office is in New Delhi and while they will continue to maintain this office, they plan to increase their focus and trade relations from Mumbai. “We are looking at a refocus in India and moving our major office to Mumbai so that we are much more aligned to the travel trade and work more closely with the trade to build product knowledge,” says Patricia Yates, Strategy & Communications director, VisitBritain. In the first nine months of 2015, UK saw a 13 per cent growth in Indian visitors but the total spend was down by three per cent.

VisitBritain opened doors to its annual flagship event ExploreGB. Being held in Liverpool this year, the event providing 300 British & Irish tourism suppliers and destinations with an invaluable opportunity to meet and do business with up to 320 hosted international travel buyers from 40 countries. This two day event will be followed by 15 different familiarisation trips making the most exploring great Britain. A delegation of over 20 Indian buyers is also part of the event this year.