With pubs, restaurants, hotels and attractions closed, the industry is facing one of its toughest periods.

This year was forecast to be a record breaker with predictions that overseas visitors would boost the economy by £26.6billion.

VisitBritain has forecast a 54 percent drop in overseas visits to the UK and a 55 percent fall in spending to £11.6billion.

And the economic blow to domestic tourism, now worth £88billion annually to the economy, could be even greater.

VisitBritain chief executive Patricia Yates said: “This time last year our Easter tourism survey showed record numbers of us had been planning a holiday at home, estimated to have brought a £1.8billion boost to the economy. This year has seen domestic and global travel brought to a standstill.

“While assessments of the impact of this global crisis on tourism are quickly surpassed by the fast-changing reality, there is no doubt the industry has been one of the earliest and hardest hit of all economic sectors.”

The hammer blow comes just months after widespread optimism that this year would bring be a bonanza for British tourism, an industry worth £127billion overall, including domestic and overseas visitors, to the UK economy every year.

At the start of the year VisitBritain forecast that 39.7 million people were expected to flood into the UK to take advantage of attractions in hundreds of historic towns and cities – the highest figure ever.

The arrivals, fuelled by an explosion in those coming from the US and China, were set to trigger an economic boost, with spending forecast to be up 6.6 percent on the year before.

In 1969 there were 5.8 million overseas visits to the UK. But during the past decade inbound tourism has grown by 33 percent while spending has increased by 58 percent as Britain successfully sells itself to the world.

Last August was a record month for both inbound visits and overseas visitor spending with 4.1 million people arriving – a seven per cent year-on-year increase – and spending £3.1billion – up 13 percent on the same month in 2018.

The buoyant outlook came after the Lonely Planet named England as one of its top destinations to visit in 2020. It was ranked second in the world behind Bhutan.

Advance flight bookings to the UK between December and May were up five percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

And forward bookings to the UK from China and South Asia looked particularly strong – up 33 percent and 22 percent respectively. But all that has now changed.

Ms Yates said: “First and foremost, the tourism industry stands united in supporting all measures taken to curb the outbreak and to address this immense global health emergency. British hotels are staying open to host key workers, events venues are transforming into hospitals and restaurants are offering meals for NHS staff.

“So what can you do? For now, stay at home, follow the UK Government advice and enjoy your travelling online. If you have a favourite hotel or restaurant or attraction you could buy a voucher for a future visit to help with cashflow. And of course when Government advice changes and we are once more allowed to roam consider revisiting or exploring somewhere new and having an extra holiday at home.

“Our tourist sector is one of the most vibrant and successful in the world – it needs you to make sure it bounces back once more.”

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