VFR is a very resilient segment of the inbound visitor economy over recent years, with those travelling to the UK to see friends and relatives participating in many activities more traditionally associated with holiday visitors.

• The Visiting Friends and Relatives Market - Facts and Figures More than one in four visits to the UK from overseas in 2010 were from people who were visiting friends or relatives, that’s 8.4 million visits in total. Download this summary for all the key facts and figures.

• VFR data by UK nation and region Open this excel file to see the overall VFR visits, nights and spend in UK nations and regions in 2010 as well as the top five markets for VFR visits for each nation and region over the last five years

• Foresight issue 57 
  The July 2008 edition of Foresight explored the importance of visits to friends and relatives to UK tourism.

• Foresight issue 21 
  The July 2005 edition of Foresight looked at the role of weddings, stag and hen weekends.

• Foresight issue 16 
  The February 2005 edition of Foresight considered the importance of Britain's ethnic diversity.

• Foresight issue 3 
  The January 2004 edition of Foresight looked at trends in the number of British nationals living overseas who make return visits to the UK.

• Expats from Spain
  In 2004 VisitBritain conducted research among expatriates living in Spain to discover more about trips back to Britain to visit friends or relatives

If you'd like to use the Visiting Friends and Relatives and Marketing Toolkit find out more in the opportunities and advice section.