YORK Tourism Bureau is hoping the rise in the number of foreign visitors to the UK could boost foreign visitor figures to the city.

New national figures show an increase in the number of foreign visitors from 2.2 million in July 2001 to 2.9 in July 2002.

But in York the strong pound and the foot-and-mouth crisis have meant the number of foreign visitors in the same period did not have the same rise.

Chief Executive of the York Tourism Bureau Gillian Cruddas said if figures have gone up nationally it often means those in York will follow.

She said: "We often follow the trends in London as they lead the way. If they have seen an increase in the number of foreign visitors up to July 2002 hopefully York will follow suit.

"We get the second and third visitors to the UK - those that have been to London and then decided to go to the provinces." The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also reveal visitors to the UK in July 2002 spent £1.4 billion compared with £1.3 billion the previous year. The July 2002 figures - which followed a succession of year-on-year falls - took the number of visits to the UK made by overseas residents in the year so far to 14 million - up on the 13.6 million figure for January-July 2001.

Spending by these foreign tourists to Britain in the first seven months of this year reached £6.4 billion - slightly down on the £6.5 billion total for the same period last year.

Although the latest figures were heartening for tourist chiefs, they have to be compared with a period of 2001, which was badly affected by a huge decline in foreign visitors due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

So far this year, UK residents have made 34 million trips abroad and spent £15 billion against January-July 2001 figures of 32.4 million trips during which £13.9 billion was spent.

Updated: 12:12 Saturday, September 07, 2002