Foreign tourists are flooding the UK to take advantage of the Brexit-induced slump in the pound

“During the period February to April 2017, there were 8.9 million visits to the UK, which was 11% more than the corresponding period a year earlier. Holiday visits rose by 28% to 3.5 million for this period,” the ONS said.

There is one big driver of this increased tourist traffic: the pound.

Since Britain voted to leave the EU on June 23 last year, sterling’s value has dropped close to 14% against the dollar, while against the euro it has slumped roughly 1o% since two weeks before the vote.

That makes it far cheaper for tourists to visit the UK, and in particular its notoriously expensive capital, London.

As an example of how much cheaper Britain has gotten for tourists because of sterling’s drop, a £4.50 pint of beer in a pub would have cost an American the equivalent of $6.66 before June, but would cost $5.75 now. In euros, the change is from €5.71 to €5.14.

April’s data reflects a trend of increased tourist footfall in the UK since Brexit, with consumers from overseas looking to take advantage of a country that is traditionally one of the most expensive in the world for tourists. A similar spike in tourism also occurred in January.