More foreign visitors came to Britain in January but they each spent less on average than a year ago, while British residents' trips abroad showed the opposite trend, official figures showed.

Some 2.6 million foreigners visited Britain in the first month of 2019, up by 6 percent from a year earlier, but their total spending was unchanged at 1.5 billion pounds, the Office for National Statistics said.

British residents made 4.5 million trips abroad in January, 2 percent fewer than a year earlier, but spent 2.9 billion pounds, 6 percent more than in 2018.