Friday 30 December 2016 11:50 am

The UK tourism industry is set to gain £24.1bn next year as more overseas visitors flock to Britain

The weak pound has wreaked all kinds of havoc on British industries, but there's at least one that's celebrating as predictions are made for 2017.

More inbound visitors than ever before, 38.1m, are set to crowd the UK's streets next year. That's up four per cent from this year, which is set to reach around 36.7m, according to VisitBritain.

In 2017, tourist spending is predicted to reach £24.1bn, up eight per cent from this year's £22.3bn.

"With our hotels, shops and attractions all offering excellent value for overseas visitors right now, it’s a great time to come to Britain," VisitBritain chief executive Sally Balcombe said.

"These figures not only underpin a longer-term pattern of growth for inbound tourism, one of our fastest growing export industries, but also demonstrates its growing importance as a key driver for economic growth and jobs."

Every £1 the government invests in VisitBritain for international marketing resulted in an overseas visitor spending of £23 in Britain, the company said.

Next year's tourism marketing will centre around literary events much like this year's celebrations of William Shakespeare and Roald Dahl. In 2017 you're likely to see events on the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book, the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen and the 125th anniversary of the first Sherlock Holmes publication.

Brits themselves are also helping tourism figures as more plan to holiday in the country. More than 11.5m planned holidays in the UK over Christmas and the New Year, generating around £2.3bn in tourism spend for the UK economy.