Tourism 'will make £188bn for Britain' in next decade

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Overseas visitors will lead the growth, with their amount of spending each year likely to almost double from £16 billion to £31 billion by 2020.

The number of jobs supported by tourism is predicted to increase by 264,000 to 2.89 million in the next 10 years, the study commissioned by VisitBritain said.

Only the financial and business service sectors are likely to grow faster than tourism over the next few years, the group added.

The report, by professional services company Deloitte and forecasting organisation Oxford Economics, calculated that the economic contribution tourists make to the UK is £115 billion a year.

It said favourable exchange rates, the lure of the London 2012 Olympics and the appeal of British attractions should ensure the sector grows at an above-average 3.5% per annum between now and 2020.

But despite the optimistic forecasts, the report warned that government intervention would be the key to success as a range of market failures need to be tackled.

These included co-ordinating marketing to help small and medium-sized tourist businesses who cannot afford to do it themselves, enabling rural firms who face higher costs of operating to adopt technology, and supporting the many districts across the UK that rely on tourism as an important source of jobs for low-skilled and part-time workers.

The report said the tourism industry also needed help to improve its ability to predict what facilities would be needed for the tourists that are likely to turn up, to ensure the modernisation of hotels and venues is done in a way that retains their original appeal and authenticity and to adapt more swiftly to new trends such as the growth in older, "grey pound" tourists.

VisitBritain chairman Christopher Rodrigues said the report was "enormously encouraging".

"The continuing low level of the pound and the approaching Olympics in 2012 give us a tremendous opportunity to promote Britain's attractiveness as a destination to the rest of the world."