In 2023, the United States was the leading inbound travel market for the United Kingdom based on the number of visits. That year, the UK reported approximately 5.12 million inbound trips from the U.S., surpassing the figures recorded in 2019 and 2022. In total, the number of inbound visits in the UK reach nearly 40 million in 2023.

In 2023, the number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom totaled 38 million, representing a growth of over 20 percent from the previous year. The figure was projected to reach 38.7 million in 2024. Has the UK’s tourism industry completely recovered from the coronavirus pandemic? Like in most countries, the travel restrictions put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the UK’s tourism industry. Overseas visitor numbers dropped to 7.1 million in 2021, representing a drop of over 80 percent from 2019. While the figure reported for 2023 showed a continued recovery in terms of overseas visitors to the UK, it remained below pre-pandemic levels. However, in terms of spending among the UK’s leading inbound travel markets, most overseas visitors spent more in 2023 than in 2019, with visitors from the UK’s leading inbound travel market, the United States, spending around 50 percent more during their travels than in 2019. What are the most visited cities in the UK? Unsurprisingly, London consistently ranked as the most visited town or city in the UK among international tourists in recent years, drawing in 20.27 million visitors in 2023. This was around tenfold the number of the second-most visited city, Edinburgh, which received 2.32 million visitors during the same year. As the UK’s capital city, London’s tourist attractions are as varied as the city itself; however, one particularly strong draw for inbound visitors is Royal Family-related tourism. This is evident with the top two most visited paid tourist attractions in England being based in London and either belonging to the Royal Family or being run by a Royal-affiliated charity. Meanwhile, among UK residents, London ranks as the second most popular destination for a summer staycation, with the South West ranking first.

United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Number of Arrivals data was reported at 35,814,000.000 Person in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 34,436,000.000 Person for 2015. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Number of Arrivals data is updated yearly, averaging 28,119,000.000 Person from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 35,814,000.000 Person in 2016 and a record low of 20,982,000.000 Person in 2001. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Number of Arrivals data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Tourism Statistics. International inbound tourists (overnight visitors) are the number of tourists who travel to a country other than that in which they have their usual residence, but outside their usual environment, for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose in visiting is other than an activity remunerated from within the country visited. When data on number of tourists are not available, the number of visitors, which includes tourists, same-day visitors, cruise passengers, and crew members, is shown instead. Sources and collection methods for arrivals differ across countries. In some cases data are from border statistics (police, immigration, and the like) and supplemented by border surveys. In other cases data are from tourism accommodation establishments. For some countries number of arrivals is limited to arrivals by air and for others to arrivals staying in hotels. Some countries include arrivals of nationals residing abroad while others do not. Caution should thus be used in comparing arrivals across countries. The data on inbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival.; ; World Tourism Organization, Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files.; Gap-filled total;

Monthly estimates of overseas residents’ visits and spending and visits and spending abroad by UK or Great Britain residents. Also includes data on purpose of visit, area visited by UK residents and area of residence for overseas residents.

Following the sharp drop in inbound visits to the United Kingdom during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the volume of overseas visits was close to returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. That year, there were nearly ** million overseas resident visits to the UK, while the figure for 2019 had been ***** million visits. In both years, the most common reason for making a trip to the UK had been for holidays.

This statistic shows the total number of inbound visits to England from 2009 to 2019. International visitor numbers have slowly increased since 2009, reaching over ** million visits by 2017. There was a slight decline in 2018, but in 2019 the figures reached ***** million visitors.

Inbound, outbound and domestic tourism expenditure, inbound tourism consumption, production accounts and employment of the tourism industries and domestic supply and internal tourism consumption.

In 2023, international tourism expenditure in the United Kingdom rose by ** percent over the previous year, reaching **** billion British pounds. This marked the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic that inbound tourist spending exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Spending was forecast to continue to grow in 2024.

Annual inbound, outbound and domestic expenditure on tourism, internal tourism consumption and employment for the tourism industries.

This report analyses the domestic tourism market in the United Kingdom. The metric used for measuring domestic tourism is total spend on tourism in the United Kingdom by UK residents. The data is sourced VisitBritain's GB Day Visits Survey and GB Tourism Survey, and includes spending on both overnight stays and day visits. The data is measured in calendar years.

London’s Tourism Direct GVA (TDGVA) in 2019 is estimated by taking London’s share of the latest ONS regional TDGVA publication (2013) and multiplying it with the latest TDGVA estimate (2017) for the UK. The resulting figure is then multiplied with a ratio of London spend data from VisitBritain’s International Passenger Surveys from 2019 and 2017. This approach assumes 1) that London’s share of UK TDGVA has remained constant from 2013 to 2017 and 2) a constant relation between spend and GVA from 2017 to 2019.

The annual VisitBritain forecast for the volume and value of inbound tourism to the UK is issued in December each year. They have however updated this to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on inbound tourism to the UK, as well as an estimate of impact on domestic tourism within England. These were used to estimate London’s tourism spend for 2020. More details on the inbound tourism forecast for 2020 to the UK and domestic tourism with in England for 2020 can be found at Visit Britain.

The number of visits by overseas residents to the United Kingdom gradually recovered in 2022, after falling sharply with the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of **************, inbound tourist visits to the UK totaled roughly *** million, which was an increase from September in the previous year and was only marginally less than pre-pandemic levels for the same month. Over the period considered, visits by overseas tourists to the United Kingdom peaked at *** million in ***********.

United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts data was reported at 55.558 USD bn in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 60.807 USD bn for 2015. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts data is updated yearly, averaging 40.038 USD bn from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 62.604 USD bn in 2014 and a record low of 26.137 USD bn in 2001. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Tourism Statistics. International tourism receipts are expenditures by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport. These receipts include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from same-day visitors, except when these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include receipts for passenger transport items. Data are in current U.S. dollars.; ; World Tourism Organization, Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files.; Gap-filled total;

Domestic tourism statistics by region and year. All figures come from the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) and represent 3-year annual averages due to small sample sizes on regional level.

United Kingdom Travel & Tourism Market was valued at USD 193.50 Billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 271.39 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 5.8%.

With the help of VisitBritain’s (tourist board of Great Britain) tourism promotional efforts, the UK’s tourism sector depicted growth during 2010–2015, when domestic and inbound tourist volumes rose at a CAGR of 1.99% and 3.81% respectively. The growth in outbound tourism was supported by the improved economic growth in the same period. Read More

Provisional annual inbound, outbound and domestic expenditure on tourism, internal tourism consumption and employment for the tourism industries.

Travelers aged 25 to 34 accounted for the highest number of overseas visits to the United Kingdom in 2022, with roughly *** million visits. This figure remained below the number of inbound visits reported in 2019, prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Meanwhile, the UK recorded around *** million overseas visits by travelers aged 35 to 44 in 2022.

United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts: for Travel Items data was reported at 41.458 USD bn in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 45.595 USD bn for 2015. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts: for Travel Items data is updated yearly, averaging 32.220 USD bn from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 50.068 USD bn in 2014 and a record low of 18.864 USD bn in 2001. United Kingdom UK: International Tourism: Receipts: for Travel Items data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Tourism Statistics. International tourism receipts for travel items are expenditures by international inbound visitors in the reporting economy. The goods and services are purchased by, or on behalf of, the traveler or provided, without a quid pro quo, for the traveler to use or give away. These receipts should include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from same-day visitors, except in cases where these are so important as to justify a separate classification. Excluded is the international carriage of travelers, which is covered in passenger travel items. Data are in current U.S. dollars.; ; World Tourism Organization, Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files.; Gap-filled total;

Visit Britain publish data relating to international visitors to the UK. They produce the data in two formats - individual spreadsheets for each region that are updated annually, and a single spreadsheet for all regions, containing less detail but updated quarterly.

Data shows London totals for nights, visits, and spend. Data broken down by age, purpose, duration, mode and country. This data is also available from Visit Britain website, including the latest quarterly data for other regions.

All data taken from the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

Some additional data on domestic tourism can be found on the Visit Britain website, and Visit England both overnight tourism and Day visits pages.

Data on accomodation occupancy levels is also available from Visit England.

An overview of all tourism data for London can be found in this GLAE report 'Tourism in London'

Further information can be found on the London and Partners website.

Comparisons of international tourist arrivals with other world cities are produced by Euromonitor and in Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index of 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

This dataset is included in the Greater London Authority's Night Time Observatory. Click here to find out more.