GBDVS Q1 2023
The statistics from 2021 onwards, below, are based on a new combined online survey that replaces the separate Great Britain Tourism Survey and Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS) that ran until the end of 2019. Take a read of the methodology and quality report (PDF, 251.21KB) for more details on the new methodology (including guidance on limitations of comparability with data up until 2019). Find the latest domestic overnight trip data on the GBTS page.
Fieldwork for 2020 and the first 3 months of 2021 was impacted by COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Therefore, the 2021 data on this page only refers to April-December 2021. Data up to the end of 2019 data can be found on the GBDVS archive page.
The results include data for three definitions of leisure day visits: Tourism Day Visits (the standard definition, which is what this page and our report focuses on); 3+ hour Leisure Day Visits (the broadest measure); Tourism Day Visits – Activities Core to Tourism (the narrowest measure). Data for Tourism Day Visits is shown below.
A summary of results for Q1 2023 can be found in the GBDVS summary report (PDF 4.18MB) focusing on England and Great Britain. More detailed data on all 3 types of day visit can be downloaded in the GBDVS excel (XL, 10.88MB). Information on domestic overnight trips can be found on the GBTS page.
Headlines
| GB Tourism Day Visits |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
January 2023 |
February 2023 |
March 2023 |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits (million) | 198 | 78 | 79 | 82 | 240 | 21% |
| Spend (£ million) | £8,699 | £3,015 | £3,266 | £4,137 | £10,417 | 20% |
In January 2023, British residents took 78 million Tourism Day Visits within Great Britain, which gradually increased over February and March 2023. In total, 240 million Tourism Day Visits were taken within Great Britain in Q1 2023, up 21% vs the same months in 2022. Spend followed the same pattern and these visitors spent a total of £10.4bn in Q1 2023, up 20% vs Q1 2022.
| England Tourism Day Visits |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
January 2023 |
February 2023 |
March 2023 |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits (million) | 173 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 210 | 21% |
| Spend (£ million) | £7,493 | £2,668 | £2,955 | £3,373 | £8,996 | 20% |
Visits and spend within England also gradually increased across the first three months of 2023, reaching 210 million Tourism Day Visits (up 21% vs Q1 2022) and £9.0bn spend (up 20% vs Q1 2022).
Distribution by nation
| GB/Nation - Visits (million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
Q1 2023 % share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB | 198 | 240 | 21% | |
| England | 173 | 210 | 21% | 87% |
| Scotland | 18 | 21 | 12% | 9% |
| Wales | 12 | 11 | -8% | 5% |
| GB/Nation - Spend (£ million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
Q1 2023 % share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB | £8,699 | £10,417 | 20% | |
| England | £7,493 | £8,996 | 20% | 86% |
| Scotland | £755 | £956 | 27% | 9% |
| Wales | £451 | £465 | 3% | 4% |
Of all the Tourism Day Visits in Q1 2023, England had the highest share of visits with an 87% share (210 million visits). Out of all the nations, England saw the highest Y-o-Y growth for Tourism Day Visits.
England’s share of the total GB Tourism Day Visit spend in 2022 was 86% which equates to £9.0bn. Scotland saw the highest Y-o-Y growth for spend.
Detailed results for Scotland and Wales are published on their websites; VisitScotland and Visit Wales.
Distribution by English region
| Visits (million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 % share |
|---|---|---|---|
| England (Total) | 173 | 210 | |
| London | 32 | 45 | 22% |
| Rest of England** | 138 | 163 | 78% |
| North East* | 5 | 6 | 3% |
| North West | 20 | 24 | 12% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 15 | 21 | 10% |
| West Midlands | 15 | 18 | 9% |
| East Midlands | 13 | 15 | 7% |
| East of England | 20 | 22 | 11% |
| South West | 18 | 17 | 8% |
| South East | 32 | 38 | 18% |
| Other/Unspecified*** | 3 | 2 | 1% |
Tourism Day Visits to each English region increased when comparing Q1 2023 to Q1 2022, apart from the South West.
22% of visits were to London vs 78% in the Rest of England in Q1 2023.
In Q1 2023, London (22%), the South East (18%) and the North West (12%) welcomed the highest shares of domestic Tourism Day Visits.
|
Spend (£ million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 % share |
|---|---|---|---|
| England (Total) | £7,493 | £8,996 | |
| London | £2,097 | £2,612 | 29% |
| Rest of England** | £5,325 | £6,303 | 70% |
| North East* | £242 | £244 | 3% |
| North West | £1,053 | £1,060 | 12% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £605 | £1,150 | 13% |
| West Midlands | £533 | £620 | 7% |
| East Midlands | £377 | £616 | 7% |
| East of England | £616 | £686 | 8% |
| South West | £822 | £598 | 7% |
| South East | £1,078 | £1,329 | 15% |
| Other/Unspecified*** | £71 | £81 | 1% |
Spend from Tourism Day Visits to most English regions increased between Q1 2022 and Q1 2023, apart from spend to the South West.
29% of expenditure was spent in London vs 70% in the Rest of England in the first quarter of 2023.
Outside London, the South East (15%) and the North West (12%) received the highest shares of spend across English regions.
Details on trip characteristics are available in the GBDVS summary report and excel, available at the top of this page.
Notes:
*Caution low base sizes
**Rest of England is NET of all English regions - excluding London
***Other/unspecified includes English National Parks, trips where main destination was England but part of trip was outside England and other/unspecified destinations.
The latest annual report for the GBDVS is for 2021 (Apr-Dec) and 2022 data (PDF, 4.64MB).
