Flights from China to Britain set to rocket as Chinese New Year approaches

LONDON - Flights from China to Britain will increase by 24 percent during the Chinese New Year celebrations, figures from London-based official tourism agency VisitBritain revealed Thursday.

The agency said Britain is expecting a boost in visits from China as the Chinese Year of the Pig falls Feb 5.

The agency said it is expecting 483,000 visits from China in 2019, up 43 percent on 2017, with Chinese visitors expected to spend more than 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) this year.

"We want the UK to be the number one destination for travelers so it is great to see forward bookings looking strong in the coming weeks and months from China, the world's most valuable outbound market," said VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates.

Xiang Xiaowei, minister counselor for culture at the Chinese Embassy in London, told Xinhua that the British tourism sector has made great efforts to develop the Chinese market, and British traditional crafts, brands as well as lifestyles have been promoted as the key contents for attracting Chinese tourists.

"I believe that China and Britain have a lot of cooperation space in tourism. Britain has its own unique advantages in the development of tourism products, the management of tourism and the formulation of tourism standards," he said.

According to VisitBritain, visitors from China are some of Britain's highest spenders, spending on average 2,059 pounds ($2,700) during their visit, more than three times the all-market visitor average. For every 22 visits from China, one job is created in the British tourism industry.