With attractions such as Stonehenge, the bustling streets of London, and the Jurassic Coast, the United Kingdom is home to countless iconic touristic destinations. In financial terms, travel and tourism is also a vital part of the UK’s economy, with the
rising to an estimated 237.1 billion British pounds in 2022. While this figure was 4.6 percent lower than it had been in 2019, it represented a near-recovery from the devastating effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the travel and tourism industries, at least fiscally. However, in regard to the
, the recovery has been less apparent, as the sector accounted for nearly 4.3 million jobs in 2019 and 3.64 million in 2022. In terms of the
, leisure spending constituted the dominant share, slightly increasing in 2022 compared to 2019 as business spending declined.
How many tourists visit the UK?
In 2022,
inbound tourist visits in the UK totaled approximately 31 million, which was nearly fivefold the figure from the previous year. Unsurprisingly, with the sharp increase in international travelers came an increase in spending. For instance, the expenditure of travelers from the United States – the
leading inbound tourism market in the UK based on travel spending – amounted to nearly six billion British pounds in 2022, which surpassed the 2019 figure by around 42 percent. Moving in the opposite direction, the
number of outbound tourist visits from the UK was over double the figure of inbound tourists in 2022, reaching approximately 71 million. Among the Britons who decided to spend their holidays at home- known otherwise as a “staycation”- nearly 80 million British pounds were
spent on domestic tourism in Great Britain that year, which, despite being 74 percent higher than the previous year, was still 15 percent less than in 2019.
Travel planning and behavior of British tourists
While the
share of Britons taking days of holiday fell in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, this scenario improved significantly in 2022 and continued to do so in 2023. When focusing on international travel, Spain, the United States, and France ranked as the
leading outbound travel markets in the UK based on the growth in travel demand on Google as of June 2023. On the other hand, according to a May 2023 survey, the South West emerged as the
leading region for summer staycations in the UK. Looking at the
attitudes towards traveling in the United Kingdom, Statista’s Global Consumer Survey found that roughly a third of respondents liked to be in nature while traveling in 2023. Meanwhile, 38 percent of surveyed Britons always looked for the cheapest offers when planning a trip. In this respect, the rising cost of living ranked as the
main barrier to overnight domestic trips in the UK, a November 2023 poll revealed. With no reprieve for the country's economic troubles on the immediate horizon, this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
