World’s most valuable source market − Worth £84.3bn in 2011, ranked first in UNWTO’s league table for international travel and one of most competitive markets for tourism and travel marketing. Britain’s second largest market in terms of visits and spend. In 2011 Britain welcomed 3m visitors from Germany who spent £1.3bn (IPS) Strong economy with high living standards − Characterises this modern and open-minded society Short breaks growing in popularity − Percentage of Germans taking short breaks each year increasing, city trips most popular (Reiseanalyse 2011) Group and coach tours popular − Strong sales in recent years, especially for tours to Britain, trend sustained by ageing population (feedback from wholesale operators) Compared with main competitors, Britain lost market share over past five years but total holiday visits up − Over this period business, VFR and study visits fell but holiday visits rose from 1.1m in 2006 to just under 1.3m in 2011 (Tourism Economics and IPS)