Bicester Village has been hailed as the UK's most popular tourist shopping destination for overseas visitors outside London.

Last year, the shopping complex, in Pingle Drive, welcomed 3.6 million visitors - of which 1.3 million were from overseas.

The figures were compiled by Global Refund, a company which monitors tax refunds to overseasshoppers.

Customers were dominated by the Chinese, according to the company.

The firm, which has 200 cash refund offices around the world, based its figures on transactions made by overseas shoppers at the centre - and unearthed figures showing a 50 per cent increase in the number of VAT refunds at the designer retail outlet last year - making it the top destination outside the capital.

Bicester Village spokesman Miranda Markham said: "There's an increasingly cosmopolitan mix of visitors and we're able to monitor them by counting the number of tax-refund transactions."

The British Tourist Authority, Visit Britain, which describes the UK as one of the "shopping hotspots of Europe", has made Bicester Visitor Centre an official partner.

In 2006, one in every five Chinese tourists to the UK visited Bicester Village.

Last year, that number climbed to one in four. It was also a record year for inbound tourism to the UK.

And, despite competition from emerging tourist destinations like Russia, India and Brazil, Bicester Village is confident it can maintain its high profile.

The tourism boom was also welcomed by hotels, restaurants and pubs in the area.

It is also hoped a number of new developments will attract even more visitors to the area.

The town centre will this year undergo a £70m redevelopment, and there will be a further expansion of Bicester Village and it is also proposed to build luxury hotels and a business park.

Bicester Chamber of Commerce spokesman Ben Jackson said: "Bicester is firmly on the tourist map.

"What we have to do is to maximise the opportunities this presents for the rest of the town."