Inbound visits and spend: quarterly, UK

• Recovery of inbound visits to the UK slowed down in Q4 2023 to 9.4m. Visits were down 8% vs Q4 2019 (similar to previous quarters in 2023) and were also down 2% vs 2022.
• A similar pattern for spend was seen, which totalled at £7.4bn down 2% vs 2019 and down 4% vs 2022. Q4 was the only quarter in 2023 not recording an increase vs the same quarter in 2019 and 2022. In real terms, Q4 spend was down 19% vs Q4 2019 and down 8% vs Q4 2022.
• Nights reached 64.8m, down 3% vs Q4 2019 and down 10% vs Q4 2022.

Please note these are the final 2023 estimates. In the summary report, you can find further detail by journey purpose, global region and inbound market as well as the full 2023 results. View the nations and regions summary for Q4 and 2023.

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It covers all major air, sea and tunnel ports, providing detailed information on the numbers and types of visits made by people travelling to and from the UK.

From January to June 2022, the ONS was unable to restart interviewing at Eurotunnel due to COVID-19 restrictions, so data for those travelling via this port is excluded for this time period. Interviewing at Eurostar was not affected by COVID-19 restrictions during this period. The ONS restarted IPS interviews at all ports from July 2022.

Please see About IPS for further information and the ONS.