Overseas tourists make beeline for pub accommodation, finds research

Pubs are sewn into the very fabric of Britain, and it turns out that foreign visitors think so too.

A British pub is one of the top three places that tourists from abroad want to visit, according to research by the pub accommodation website Stay In A Pub.

It said that 13% of all enquiries to the Stay in a Pub website come from overseas visitors, covering 100 different countries.

As a result the official tourism website of Great Britain, Visit Britain, and Visit England, are now promoting British pubs, placing links on their websites to the Stay in a Pub site.

Visit Wales has also agreed to add a link and the site owners, Cask Marque, are due to meet with Visit Scotland soon.

Before the research there was no mention of pubs on the two tourism websites.

Stay In A Pub marketeer Roger Wright said: “Interest from abroad is increasing dramatically. We’re getting a lot of enquiries from Australia, Canada, Japan, its crazy how many people want to stay or eat in a pub.”

Cask Marque director Paul Nunny added: “Visit Britain has gone even further and promised to use their 22 overseas hubs to promote pub accommodation.

“With the devalued pound there is a strong attraction for people to visit Britain and this will be one of the key areas the Government will support after Brexit.”

Grant applications to Visit England, covering the promotion of England’s Greatest Walking Trails, and the Gourmet Garden Trails of England, are also in the pipeline, raising the prospect of pubs on the trails also being promoted.