The table below shows trends in inbound tourism for the period 2000 to 2010 based on the Office for National Statistics International Passenger Survey.  The number of visits peaked in 2007 at 32.8 million, since when there has been a decline of around 10%.  After a long period during which the average spend per visit hovered at a little under £500 there has been a marked increase in the past three years, driven on by the relative weakness of sterling.  

The long-term trend is for the average length of time each inbound visitor stays in the UK to decline, however the figure has been fairly stable for the past four years.  In line with many other developed economies the UK has an international tourism balance of payments deficit.  This increased both rapidly and consistently in the decade to 2008, but shrank by around 26% in 2009 and a further 1% in 2010 as Britons took fewer overseas trips.   

The top ten inbound markets for the UK in terms of number of visits during 2010 accounted for 68% of all visits.  It is noteworthy that only two long-haul markets, the USA and Australia, appear in the top ten.  Looking at spending by inbound visitors, the top ten markets account for 56% of all spending, with the USA worth almost twice as much as the next most valuable market, Germany.  All of the top ten markets measured in terms of value are 'developed' rather than 'emerging' source markets for international tourism. 

Over the period 2000-10 four out of the five fastest growing markets measured in absolute growth in value are markets in close proximity to the UK, namely France, Spain, Netherlands and Ireland, but it is notable that the value of the Australian market has grown by £434m.  The 'relative' growth in value shows the rapid rise in importance of a couple of countries that joined the European Union in 2004 but also reveals a 172% growth in the value of the market from India. 

The fastest declining markets over the 2000-10 period in terms of absolute reduction in spending is topped by the USA and Japan.  The 'relative' decline figures show that the value of the market from Japan has more than halved in the past decade with a decline of nearly one-quarter in the value of the US market. 

In 2010 nearly two-in-five inbound visits to the UK was for a Holiday, while just over one-in-five was for Business.  Looking at the share of visitor nights by journey purpose it is clear that trips to Visit Friends or Relatives (VFR) account for the largest share, thanks to the fact that these trips have a higher than average length of stay.

By contrast VFR trips account for a lower share of inbound visitor spend than of visits, while Holiday and Business spending is in line with their respective share of visits.

The period July to September accounts for one-in-three of all Holiday visits with less than one-in-five such trips taking place in the first three months of the year.  By contrast Business visits show a very even seasonal spread, while VFR trips are more likely to take place in the July to September than January to March period.

The UK enjoys excellent global connectivity, with well over 100 countries having direct air connections to the UK in 2010.  It can be seen from the pie chart that in 2010 more than 70% of inbound visitors reached the UK by air. 

As visitors who travel by air tend to spend more per visit than those using other means of transport the share of visitor spend accounted for by visitors who fly to the UK stood at 83% in 2010.

Visitors who travel by ferry account for around one-in-seven visits, with the Channel Tunnel being the chosen method for getting to and from the UK for about one-in-eight visitors.

London is a key destination for inbound visitors to the UK.  In 2010 14.7 million visitors spent time in the capital, spending over £8.7bn.  This represents 52% of all inbound visitor spending.

The rest of England attracted over 12 million inbound visitors who spent an estimated £5.9bn, representing 35% of all inbound visitor spend.  Scotland attracted 2.4 million visitors and 9% of all visitor spending, with the equivalent figures for Wales being 0.9 million visits and 2% of visitor spend.  The 'other' category includes visits to the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, along with those visitors whose nights in the UK were spent travelling. 

Note that some 1.5 million visitors from overseas made 'day trips' to the UK in 2010, with these visits generating £131 million of spending.