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Holidaymakers from the UK are so eager to travel abroad that they often overlook the opportunities on offer in their home country, it has been claimed.

Elliot Frisby, corporate PR manager for VisitBritain, said that the availability of air travel has led to British people looking abroad before considering a holiday within their own borders.

'The affordability and the accessibility of overseas destinations, with low-cost airlines, has made it so much easier to get overseas,' he said.

'We do overlook Britain as a destination.'

Mr Frisby said that a range of efforts are being made to raise the profile of tourism in Britain this year, an initiative which is particularly important considering the damage that the industry sustained following last year's floods.

The VisitBritain spokesman said that the south-west is the most popular region for British people on holiday in the UK, while Americans have shown an interest in Edinburgh and other Scottish cities.

According to statistics from VisitBritain, tourism is the country's fifth largest industry, with a value of £85bn.

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