’s tourism industry has welcomed today’s announcement that the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in London, proclaiming it the biggest ever opportunity for UK tourism.

Industry leaders believe that between 50 – 75% of Britain’s net benefit of staging the Games, measured over a 7-10 year period, will accrue through tourism. Based on Sydney’s example, the Games could be worth well over £2 billion to our visitor economy.

Tom Wright, chief executive of national tourism marketing agency, VisitBritain, said: “The IOC’s decision confirms London’s and Britain’s places among the world’s leading visitor destinations. It is as much a vote of confidence for Britain’s tourism and leisure facilities as it is for our sporting venues and events.”

The tourism prospects for London & Britain were already excellent – both are currently experiencing record years for the second year running. VisitBritain predicts that every nation and region within Britain is now likely to receive additional leisure and business visitors in the years before, during and after the Games.

“The Games provide a great platform to boost the international marketing of both London and Britain as leisure, business and sporting destinations, particularly in new and emerging markets such as China, Greece, Korea, Poland and Thailand,” said Tom Wright.

Britain is easily capable of accommodating all these additional visitors and the tourism industry will now focus on delivering the best possible experience. VisitBritain will lead this process, working with its national, regional and commercial partners to showcase the world-class tourism products and services that Britain has to offer and further raise the standard of welcome that visitors receive.

Tourism is already worth almost £74 billion a year to the UK (of which over £13 billion comes from international visitors) and employs 7% of Britain’s workforce. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has set a target to increase the value of tourism to £100 billion by 2010, recognising this as the key to further wealth and job creation for the British economy.