VisitBritain, the country's national tourist agency, announced in August that initial figures for the first half of 2006 suggest a record number of visits and a new high for Britain's visitor economy, boosting total spending in the six-month period by 6 percent to £6.6 billion, or about 1.44 trillion yen.
With Japan reaching 16th place in terms of visitor figures to Britain and ranking 13th in terms of vacationer spending in 2005, its contribution to the British tourist economy far outstrips that of any other Asian market.
Tom Wright, VisitBritain's chief executive, sees the "wooing of valuable Japanese visitors" as a key area for investment, as well as a sure-fire way to build on Britain's current tourism success.
"It's a very important market and one where we're expecting a lot of growth in the next few years," said Wright, explaining that Japanese visitor figures are only just beginning to recover after dropping away in 2001 due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the 9/11 terror attacks and SARS.