The number of overseas visitors to Brighton and Hove is on the up.

Thousands of people flocked to the city in the last year, lured by its wide variety of clubs, hotels, theatres and restaurants.

In a speech at the Association of British Travel Agents' annual convention in Florida, Tom Wright, chief executive of VisitBritain, said the number of overseas visitors to Brighton had increased by 12.5 per cent in the past year.

He said figures were also good for Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle.

A record 26.4 million overseas visitor trips to the UK are expected to have taken place by the end of this year, beating the previous bests of 1998 and 2000.

Mr Wright said: "More and more people around the world are enjoying more of what Britain has to offer."

Tourism is worth about £76 billion a year to Britain and employs about 2.1 million people.