Visiting Americans take advantage of weak pound

Expedia reported an 80% jump in UK summer bookings from across the Atlantic between January and March, compared with the same period last year.

American visitors are taking advantage of the 13% fall in the value of sterling compared with the US dollar since the EU referendum in June last year.

Expedia’s global head of transport, Greg Schulze, said: “The best deals on air fares are coming from the US into the UK. We’re seeing discounts of 20% to 30% from a year prior.”

Demand for US travel to Europe has been “resilient” despite a number of deadly terror attacks, Mr Schulze said.

In an interview with the Press Association, he said: “When there is an incident, travel is impacted. But we’ve seen it to be quite resilient.

“The reality is that people love to travel. Right now, there are good deals for Europe as a destination, especially the UK as a destination.

“It’s largely related to the currency, but also with the capacity for the airlines on certain routes and the competition that brings. We’ve seen great deals for travellers coming into the UK.”

UK hotel and flight packages for US tourists are more than 45% cheaper than last year, Expedia’s figures show.

After three years of strong growth, inbound tourism to the US has steadied in recent months, leading to airlines also offering attractive prices for westbound travel across the Atlantic, according to Mr Schulze.