Quarterly inbound tourism spending UK 2021

Spending of inbound tourists in the United Kingdom fell sharply in 2020 and 2021 over the previous years due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the expenditure of international visitors in the UK amounted to three billion British pounds, increasing remarkably over the previous quarter but staying way below pre-pandemic levels. Over the same period, inbound visits to the United Kingdom totaled approximately 3.6 million. Overall, data for 2021 mainly refer to air passengers since it was not possible to conduct passenger surveys at the Eurotunnel and UK ports. Figures from the port of Dover were included only from the third quarter of the year.

Spending of inbound visitors in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1st quarter 2015 to 4th quarter 2021 (in billion GBP)

Characteristic	Spending in billion GBP
Q4 2021**	3
Q3 2021**	1.9
Q2 2021**	0.55
Q1 2021**	0.29
Q4 2020*	0.61
Q3 2020*	1.04
Q2 2020*	0.22
Q1 2020	4.34
Q4 2019	7.55
Q3 2019	9.19
Q2 2019	6.9
Q1 2019	4.8
Q4 2018	5.97
Q3 2018	8.4
Q2 2018	6.94
Q1 2018	5.19
Q4 2017	6.08
Q3 2017	10.09
Q2 2017	7.15
Q1 2017	5.08
Q4 2016	6.2
Q3 2016	8.24
Q2 2016	6.53
Q1 2016	4.45
Q4 2015	5.72
Q3 2015	7.57
Q2 2015	6.27
Q1 2015	4.27

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Release date

June 2022

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Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

Q1 2015 to Q4 2021

Supplementary notes

*The source specifies that the International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on March 16, 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Thus, 2020 figures are based on administrative sources and modeling, except for Q1 2020 data that is based on the IPS. Please find here additional information related to the methodology.

**The source adds the following: "During the first half of 2021 (January to June 2021), the IPS survey was operational at UK airports only. In ordinary times surveying would also be conducted at UK tunnel terminals (Eurostar and Eurotunnel) as well as some UK sea ports (e.g. Dover), but this was not possible during this period". Dover traffic was only included from the third quarter of the year.

Figures have been rounded.

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