Inbound visitor statistics for 2022
The travel and tourism statistics published by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) are based on the results of the International Passenger Survey (IPS).
The running of the survey has been impacted because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the ONS were unable to restart interviewing at Eurotunnel (but continued at Eurostar) from January to June 2022. The ONS has used passenger numbers to model the Eurotunnel data for Q1-Q2 2022. Interviews at all ports restarted from July 2022.
Please find a summary of the Q4 2022 and full year 2022 data below as well as in the Total UK summary report (PPT, 637KB). Regional data can be found further down this page and in the Regions and Nations summary report (PPT 412KB).
Detailed historical data from 2009 to Q1 2020 is available on the interactive data visualisations at the UK level and the regional level. For more granular data for 2021 and 2022, you can download the data in excel for the Total UK (XL, 7.3MB) and the Regions and Nations (XL, 3.97MB).
Visits, spend and nights
| All passengers |
Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) |
% change vs. Q4 2019 |
2022 |
% change vs. 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits (000) | 9,598 | -7% | 31,244 | -24% |
| Spend (£m) | £7,732 | 2% | £26,497 | -7% |
| Nights (000) | 71,987 | 7% | 262,864 | -9% |
Inbound visits to the UK continued to recover to pre-pandemic levels (i.e. 2019) in the last quarter of 2022 reaching 9.6 million visits, down 7% on Q4 2019. In 2022, the UK welcomed 31.2m visits following two years of extremely low visits due to the impact of COVID-19 (down 24% vs 2019).
In 2022, visitors spent £26.5bn during the 12 months of 2022, down 7% on 2019 (in nominal terms) with Q4 2022 reaching a record £7.7bn. Taking inflation into account, visitor spend would have been 17% below 2019 levels, equivalent to £23.5bn in 2019 prices.
In total, 72.0 million nights were spent in the UK during Q4, up 7% on Q4 2019. Over the 12 months, 262.9m nights were spent in the UK by inbound visitors, down 9% on 2019.
The average spend per visit was £848 in 2022 vs £696 in 2019, up 22% in nominal terms and 8% in real terms.
Visitors stayed longer in the UK on average in 2022 vs 2019; 8.4 nights per visit in 2022 vs 7.1 nights per visit in 2019.
Visits and spend by journey purpose
|
Journey Purpose Visits (000) |
Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) |
% change vs. Q4 2019 |
2022 |
% change vs. 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday | 3,547 | -13% | 12,092 | -28% |
| VFR | 3,718 | 12% | 11,781 | -5% |
| Business | 1,609 | -27% | 5,149 | -41% |
| Study | 103 | -27% | 354 | -41% |
| Misc. (excl. study) | 620 | 12% | 1,869 | -17% |
Inbound holiday visits to the UK continued to recover to pre-pandemic levels in Q4 (October to December) 2022 with 3.5 million visits, down 13% on Q4 2019. Overall in 2022, the largest proportion of inbound visitors came to the UK for a holiday. There were 12.1 million holiday visits to the UK throughout the year, down 28% on 2019 (accounting for 39% of total inbound visits vs 41% in 2019).
Those visiting friends and relatives in the UK contributed 3.7 million visits to inbound tourism in Q4 2022. VFR visits for this quarter surpassed 2019 levels by 12% and set a new Q4 record. VFR visits to the UK has seen the quickest recovery in 2022 with 11.8 million visits, 5% below 2019. They accounted for a similar share of total inbound visits to holiday visits at 38% (vs 30% in 2019).
Business visits continued to increase into Q4 to 1.6 million visits, down 27% on Q4 2019. Across 2022, visits were down 41% in 2022 vs 2019 reaching 5.1m visits.
In 2022, there were 354,000 study visits to the UK, down 41% on 2019.
All other visits under ‘miscellaneous’ contributed 1.9m visits in 2022, down 17% on 2019.
|
Journey Purpose Spend (£m) |
Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) |
% change vs. Q4 2019 |
2022 |
% change vs. 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday | £3,118 | -5% | £11,567 | -13% |
| VFR | £2,174 | 32% | £7,558 | 18% |
| Business | £1,647 | 1% | £4,982 | -14% |
| Study | £311 | -41% | £1,039 | -14% |
| Misc. (excl. study) | £481 | 2% | £1,352 | -6% |
Holiday spend returned to be the highest source of inbound spend in 2022 with these visitors spending £11.6bn, down 13% on 2019. Those visiting the UK for a holiday accounted for 44% of total inbound spend in 2022.
Spend from those visiting friends and relatives surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 2022, reaching a new record of £7.6bn spend, up 18% on 2019 (Q3 and Q4 also set records). Spend from VFR visits made up 29% of total inbound spend.
Business spend recovered to £5.0bn in 2022, down 14% on 2019 (19% of total spend), with spend recovering to pre-pandemic levels in Q4 2022.
Spend from study visitors fluctuated quite a bit in 2022 but reached £1.0bn from Jan-Dec 2022, down 28% on 2019.
All other spend under ‘miscellaneous’ contributed £1.4bn in 2022, down 6% on 2019.
See visits and spend by global region and inbound market in the Total UK summary report linked at the top of this page.
Visits and spend by UK region
|
Nations/Regions Visits (000) |
Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) |
% change vs. Q4 2019 |
2022 |
% change vs. 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 5,145 | -9% | 16,118 | -26% |
| Rest of England | 3,880 | -2% | 13,197 | -22% |
| Scotland | 850 | 1% | 3,234 | -7% |
| Wales | 171 | -8% | 686 | -33% |
|
Nations/Regions Spend (£m) |
Q4 2022 (Oct-Dec) |
% change vs. Q4 2019 |
2022 |
% change vs. 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £4,521 | 3% | £14,133 | -10% |
| Rest of England | £2,353 | 3% | £8,504 | -6% |
| Scotland | £680 | 19% | £3,151 | 24% |
| Wales | £95 | -26% | £391 | -24% |
Inbound visits to London showed signs of recovery throughout 2022, peaking with 5.1 million visits in Q4 2022 (October to December), down 9% on Q4 2019. Visitor spending reached a new Q4 high in 2022 of £4.5 billion (3% up on Q4 2019). There were 16.1 million inbound visits to London in 2022 (down 26% in 2019 results). These visitors spent £14.1 billion in the capital city – 10% down on 2019 results.
Visits to the Rest of England in Q4 2022 were just 2% behind October-December 2019 results (3.9 million visits). Inbound spending in Q4 2022 was up 3% on 2019 results, setting a new Q4 spend record of £2.4 billion. There were a total of 13.2 million visits to the Rest of England in 2022, 22% down compared to 2019. Visitors spent £8.5 billion in 2022, 6% below 2019 levels.
Scotland set new Q4 records for both visits and spend in Q4 2022. There were 850,000 visits between October – December 2022 spending a total of £680 million (up 1% and 19% respectively on the same period of 2019). In 2022, 3.2 million inbound visits were made to Scotland – 7% fewer than in 2019. Though visit numbers were down in 2022 (compared to 2019), visitor spending set a new January – December record of £3.2 billion (up 24% on 2019).
Wales hosted 171,000 inbound visits in Q4 2022, 8% lower than the same period in 2019. Inbound visitors spent £95 million in Wales in Q4 2022, 76% of the total spent in the same period of 2019. Final 2022 figures reported a total of 686,000 inbound visits to Wales (33% down on 2019) and £391 million in spend (24% lower than in 2019).
See the Regional summary report at the top of this page for further detail on English regions.
Please visit the 2020 inbound page and the 2021 inbound page for inbound tourism statistics regarding those years.
More detailed information on 2022 inbound data can be found on the ONS website.
