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National tourism agency VisitBritain plans to promote Britain as a destination for sports tourism on the back of this summer's Olympic games in Beijing and ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Research has found that one in ten visits to Britain from overseas involve watching sport or taking part in sporting activities.

Visitors from New Zealand and Australia live up to their 'sports mad' reputations, with 28% of New Zealanders and 25% of Aussies enjoying sport in some way during their trips to Britain.

VisitBritain will be looking closely at the Beijing Olympics in August as it formulates plans to make the London 2012 games as successful as Barcelona '92 and Sydney 2000.

Chief executive Tom Wright, who will represent the agency in China, said: 'Being in Beijing this summer will enable us to ensure tourism is among the beneficiaries of London 2012.

'It marks the first stage of our strategy to spread the economic benefits of the Olympics throughout the UK and raise the profile and awareness of Britain as a destination.'

According to research commissioned by Oxford Economic Forecasting, the UK visitor economy could be boosted by more than £2bn as a result of hosting the Olympics.

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