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VisitBritain

UK’s image overseas

This report shows the UK results of the latest annual Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index study, which ranks 60 nations on a range of attributes including some relating to tourism, culture and people.

Released on:

December 2023

Next release:

to be confirmed

For further information, please contact research@visibritain.org

Report highlights

  • The UK moved up two places in the overall Nation Brands Index in 2023, ranking 4th out of 60 nations.
  • The UK held steady at 6th for Tourism and slipped one place to 4th for Culture. All individual attributes related to Tourism and Culture remained stable or improved from the previous year with all but natural beauty ranking within the top 7.
  • The UK’s rank for Welcome remained low, dipping to 19th place in 2023 (the lowest rank ever received for this measure).
  • New measures for 2023, relevant for tourism, revealed a more competitive landscape for the UK with Safety ranking 14th, Food ranking 21st and Uniqueness coming in at 22nd. New measures are separate to the core NBI measures.
  • The UK was most associated with positive personality traits and was seen to be mostly sophisticated, attractive, strong, trustworthy, competent and friendly in 2023 by the panel markets.

View the latest report

PDF

Report: How the world views the UK - Nation Brands Index 2023 (Published December 2023)

See the latest NBI 2023 results which painted a detailed picture of how the UK is perceived internationally.

Download (3.18 MB)

About the survey

The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index (or NBI) is an annual study amongst 60,000 consumers in 20 panel countries around the world. Adults aged 18 or over who are online were interviewed in each country. In 2023, VisitBritain commissioned research in an additional panel markets; Spain, however this is excluded from the ‘Total’ ranks below which are based on the standard 20 NBI panel countries.

Respondents score 60 nations (including the UK) on a raft of attributes including tourism, culture and people as well as those relating to exports, governance and immigration / investment.

The overall ‘nation brand’ rank is based on scores across all attributes.

The report also includes analysis of other questions in the NBI survey relating to the familiarity and favourability of a nation, personality traits of a nation and perceptions on new topics becoming more important for a nation’s reputation.

Further analysis based on NBI

VisitBritain add proprietary questions onto the NBI survey each year. Please see our foresight reports below:

2022 - Perceptions of the UK’s visa processing and expectations of an electronic travel authorisation scheme

Download (4.09 MB)

2021 - Where the UK ranks as a next holiday destination

Download (275.78 KB)

2019 - Reasons to return to a holiday destination

Download (1.32 MB)

foresight_160_-_film_and_tv_locations.pdf

Download (283.81 KB)

2017 - Understanding welcome

Download (583.33 KB)

2016 - Perception and knowledge of Britain and its competitors in 2016

Download (735.15 KB)

Further analysis on perceptions

VisitBritain carried out further ad-hoc research on perceptions of the UK. Please see our foresight reports below:

2022 - European post-EU exit research

Survey conducted in 10 European markets in spring 2022 looking at sentiment towards Britain, ID card and passport ownership, and understanding of new rules.

Download (8.18 MB)