International visitors to the UK spent £21billion during the course of 2013, a jump of nearly 13% over 2012.
The number of visits also reached a record with 33 million trips to the UK from abroad, a rise of 6% over 2012.
The French stood out for having made the most visits, at 3.93 million, followed by the Germans who chalked up 3.16 million.
But neither of these nationalities proved to be big spenders. That accolade went to people coming from several countries in the Middle East. They were shown by the Office for National Statistics to spend an average of £173 per day.
Nigerians had an average spend of £143 every day of their time in the UK.
The first Europeans to register high spending were Norwegians (£142) followed closely by the Danes (£140). The Germans averaged £74 a day and it was £71 for the French.
Visitors from the US entered the US fewer times, with 2.79 million trips, and spent an average of £115 every day.
But because Europe provided the greatest number of travellers, the bulk of spending was made by them, reaching £10.9 billion. North Americans (US and Canadians combined) spent £3.08 billion in total during 2013.
The ONS data underscores the rapid growth of tourism in the UK. In 1980, people from abroad entered the UK 12.42 million times, spending £2.96 billion.
By 1995, there had been more than 20 million visits with an outlay of more than £10 billion.
Visits reached 30 million in 2006 and spending surpassed £20 billion six years later in 2012.
