UK to launch campaign to entice overseas tourists to scenic countryside

Britain's official tourism agency VisitBritain is launching a "Countryside is Great" campaign to showcase the beauty of the countryside.

It is part of a drive to entice more visitors to Great Britain this year, against a backdrop of new spending records set in the first nine months of 2014 in six British regions.

New figures released by British government's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal the value of overseas visitors between January and October last year, a figure exceeding 24 billion U.S. dollars.

London was the biggest earner, with overseas tourists spending over 13 billion U.S. dollars, a new record, followed by record earnings in the South East of England (2.55 billion U.S. dollars) and Scotland (2.25 billion U.S. dollars).

Overseas visitor numbers were also up by an average of 8.6 percent across the country, with Wales enjoying a 14 percent increase, Scotland and Yorkshire each a 12 percent rise, and London a more modest 6 percent increase over the first nine months of 2013.

Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications at VisitBritain, said: "VisitBritain will continue to focus on the rebalancing of this growing industry in 2015 to benefit the whole country. Next week, we will launch a 3 million pound (4.5 million U.S. dollars) 'Countryside is Great' campaign to showcase the beauty of our countryside -- from Cornwall to the Lake District, Pembrokeshire to the Scottish Highlands." Endit