Nearly three million visitors made their way to Britain during June, spending a record amount.

Despite the incessant rain, VisitBritian recorded a nine per cent increase in visitors numbers during the month.

In total some 2.89 million visitors were recorded by the latest International Passenger Survey, with spending increase four per cent to £1.7 billion.

Releasing the results VisitBritian director of strategy and communications, Patricia Yates, said: “This is an encouraging sign for tourism across Britain, and shows that the UK is very much open for business and making the most of the opportunity presented by hosting next year Olympics.

“Not only are we seeing overall visitor numbers and expenditure at their highest ever level for June, but international visits to the UK in the first half of the year are up six per cent compared with the same period last year.

“Perhaps the most exciting trend emerging at present has been the increasing number of visitors who are coming to Britain from parts of the world beyond Europe and North America.”