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Britain’s image overseas

The UK ranks 6th as a nation brand overall, 6th for Tourism and 3rd for Culture out of 60 nations in The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index 2022. 

The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index is an annual online study amongst 60,000 consumers in 20 panel countries around the world. Respondents score 60 nations on a raft of attributes including some relating to tourism, culture and people as well as those relating to exports, governance and immigration. Respondents are representative of the online population in each market. In 2022, VisitBritain commissioned research in two additional panel markets; Spain and the Netherlands, however these are excluded from the ‘Total’ ranks below which are based on the standard 20 NBI panel countries.

Read our full report on how the world views Britain (PDF 2.5MB, Published November 2022).

Rank Nation Rank Nation
1 Germany 6 United Kingdom
2 Japan 7 Switzerland
3 Canada 8 United States
4 Italy 9 Sweden
5 France 10 Australia

There were minor changes to the top 10 nation brands in 2022 with the UK ranking 6th overall.

The overall nation brand is made up of scores for six dimensions: Tourism, Culture, People, Immigration-Investment, Exports and Governance.

Looking at the dimensions relevant for tourism, the UK ranked 6th out of 60 nations for Tourism and 3rd for Culture. Within these dimensions the UK ranked in the top ten for historic buildings/monuments, vibrant city life, contemporary culture, sport, cultural heritage and visiting if money was no object. Within other dimensions, education qualifications, having a close friend from the UK and willingness to live and work in the UK were held in high regard as well.

The table below shows in more detail how well Britain performed across Tourism, Culture, People, Exports, Immigration and Investment, and Governance.

UK’s ranks for all dimensions and attributes

Hexagon dimensions / attribute UK rank in 2022 Hexagon dimensions / attribute UK rank in 2022
Tourism 6 People 8
Rich in historic buildings & monuments 5 If visited, people would make me feel very welcome 16
Vibrant city life & urban attractions 5 Would like a person from country as a close friend 4
Would like to visit if money was no object 7 Would employ well-qualified person from country 5
Rich in natural beauty 31    
Culture 3 Exports 4
Interesting & exciting for contemporary culture 4 Major contributor to innovation in science & technology 5
Excels at sport 5 Feel better about buying products if made there 6
Has a rich cultural heritage 8 Creative, cutting edge ideas & new ways of thinking 5
Immigration-investment 5 Governance 13
Willing to live & work there for a substantial period 4 Competently and honestly governed 17
A place with a high quality of life 8 Respect the rights of citizens & treats with fairness 10
A good place to study for educational qualifications 2 Behaves responsibly in int. peace & security 12
Has businesses I'd like to invest in 6 Behaves responsibly to protect the environment 16
Cares about equality in society 10 Behaves responsibly to help reduce world poverty 9

 

Diagram showing that the UK ranks sixth overall in 2022

What is the Anholt Nations Brands Index, or NBI?

It is an annual study amongst 60,000 consumers in 20 panel countries around the world.

Respondents score 60 nations (including the UK) on a raft of attributes including some relating to:

Tourism
Culture
People
As well as those relating to:

Exports
Governance
Immigration/investment
The overall ‘nation brand’ rank is based on scores across all attributes.

Further resources

In 2021, we explored where the UK sat as a next possible holiday destination in relation to other competitor destinations. Read the full report to see where the UK ranks (PDF, 276KB). We also asked several questions around taking international holidays in the next 12 months and sought after experiences on holidays.  The full report can be found here (PDF, 2.4MB). Published in October 2022.

In 2020, a similar set of questions were asked to those in 2021 with regards to intention to travel internationally in the next 12 months, but with the addition of exploring the likihood to visit Britain. You can read the full report here (PDF, 2.1KB). Published October 2021. 

In 2016, VisitBritain sponsored a question in the GfK Nation Brand Index survey looking at the perceptions and knowledge of Britain and its competitors. In addition we ran a project called 'Decisions and Influences'. We have combined the results of both of these studies and published them in our foresight research publication (PDF, 740KB). Published November 2017.

Inbound consumer sentiment research

Following on from the EU referendum VisitBritain commissioned a survey across 9 markets into consumer perceptions of Britain.  To date, we have run 10 waves of this research with the most recent report (Published March 2021) summarising all waves and looking at: 

  • Welcome
  • Value
  • Propensity to visit Britain

We further conducted a survey in 10 European markets in March 2022 (Published May 2022, PDF 8.18MB) looking at ID card and passport ownership, sentiment towards Britain and appetite for travel, and understanding of new rules and perceived barriers.

Related resources

If you are interested in a particular sector, visit our shopping, culture heritage & attractions, countryside & coast, accommodation or food & drink pages.