The Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS) measures the volume, value and trip characteristics of tourism day visits in Britain. Results up to 2019 are available on this archive page, together with results from earlier surveys with different methodologies conducted since 1998.
GBDVS Annual Reports
These reports provide a detailed overview of survey findings, broken down by regions, demographics and other key variables. The report contains the full details of definitions, as well as details of the volume and value of all leisure trips lasting at least three hours, but did not fulfil the other criteria to be counted as a 'tourism day visit'.
In December 2018, an error was found in the Activities Core To Tourism volume data for 2014. This has been corrected in all monthly reports where the data appeared (November 2017-October 2018) as well as the 2017 GB Day Visitor Survey report.
Note: 31st March 2017: A processing error has been discovered which affected results for Tourism Day Visits (TDVs) taken in London in 2016. When the 2016 data were re-processed with the correct TDV filter rules applied, there was an increase in the volume of visits taken in London assigned as TDVs and a corresponding impact on the England and GB totals.
The published individual monthly reports for 2016 have not yet been corrected so the interim TDV level data for London, England and GB from these previously published monthly reports should not be used.
This issue had no impact on the 2016 results reported for Scotland, Wales or any of the English regions outside of London.
In addition, in 2016, a number of changes to the survey and questionnaire were made to improve survey usability and aid respondent understanding of the survey questions. These revisions together led to an increase in reported levels of trip taking. Further analysis of the data, including a parallel survey exercise, suggests that the revisions together accounted for 15 percentage points of the year on year increase recorded in 2016. On this basis all estimates in the topline survey report of visits for 2011 to 2015 have been increased by a factor of 15% to allow a meaningful comparison of year on year trends.
Year on Year percentage changes that were included in the previously published monthly 2016 reports should not be used. However, previously published data for 2011 to 2015 can continue to be used to understand trends between 2011 and 2015 and to understand the structure and composition of the day visit market within individual years.
The topline 2016 survey report incorporates these changes and provides a more detailed explanation of the revisions made.
In the course of preparing annual results for the 2013 GB Day Visits Survey an error was identified in the previously published 2013 monthly results. A number of trips which should have been included in the subset of 'tourism day visits' had been excluded at the data processing stage of the survey. As a result, the volume and value of tourism day trips was under-reported for both England and Britain, whilst figures for the wider category of 3+ hour leisure day visits were correct. Further information is available.
The latest annual report for the 2013 GB Day Visitor Survey (PDF, 3MB) includes many analyses at regional level. The report also includes an appendix providing results for counties and towns, again using three-year averages.
In 2012 GB residents took 1.7 billion tourism day trips in the UK, and 1.5 billion in England (up from 1.5 billion and 1.3 billion respectively in 2011).
A total of £57 billion was spent on these trips, of which £49 billion was spent in England (up from £52 billion and £43 billion in 2011), with an average spend per trip of £34 (£32 in England).
Note: Full 2012 results for England were revised on 11th February 2013. This revision takes into account a number of trips taken for which the respondent was unable to name the region visited when answering the survey questionnaire. In previous monthly reports, these trips were included in the total figures for the UK, but not assigned to an individual nation. In calculating the annual results an analysis of the actual destination visited has shown that these trips took place in England and so these are not included in the English volume and value data.
Please note: revisions have not been applied to previous monthly reports. The December monthly report includes an analysis for the four quarters of the year, incorporating revised data.
London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games
In 2012 the GB DAYVS question about activities undertaken during trips was amended to include 5 options related to the 2012 Games:
Attended a 2012 Olympics/Paralympics sports event.
Attended the 2012 Olympic Torch relay.
Attended an Inspire mark Olympic event.
Attended a Cultural Olympiad event, the 2012 Festival, or any other 'official' Olympic-related event.
Visited the Olympic Park in London (without attending a ‘ticketed’ sporting event).
Between July and September 2012, 11.4 million tourism day visits were taken which involved one of the above activities. Spending on these trips totalled just over £1 billion.
Detailed results for each activity are broken out in this July - September 2012 Chart (PDF, 80KB).
Domestic overnight visitors
The same questions were included in the GB Tourism Survey. This showed that in the same three-month period, 1.1 million domestic overnight trips included one of the five Olympic activities, with spending of £331 million.
Please note that these results were revised on 30 March 2012, as outlined below.
Revision information
Further analysis of these results showed that claims of extremely high spending levels (tens of thousands of pounds) by a small number of respondents was having a disproportionate effect on the overall calculated trip value once their data was grossed up to total population level. As it was impossible to be certain whether these figures were correct or due to mistyping, it was decided to exclude the spending by these respondents from the final value calculations, resulting in a reduction in the reported value, from £53.8 billion to £52 billion for Great Britain, and from £44.4 billion to £42.7 billion for England. There was no impact on value results for Wales and Scotland. In future, checks will be carried out on the data on a monthly basis to identify anomalous claimed spending levels. For any specific questions about the methodology, please get in touch.
Day visits previous years
Results from day visit surveys from 1998 to 2008.
Surveys to measure the volume and value of day visits were carried out in 1998, 2002 and 2005, available to download below.
2007-2008 Day visits diagnostic research
A separate piece of research was carried out in 2007-2008 with the aim of understanding more about the attitudes, behaviours and motivations of British residents with regard to day trips.
It allows you to analyse data for the volume and value of: all tourism day trips (non-regular activities, outside the place of residence) and all 3+ hour leisure trips (All tourism day trips and also trips which lasted at least three hours, but did not fulfil the criteria to be classified as tourism trips, because they were either activities undertaken regularly by the respondent, or because they happened in the respondent's place of residence).
You can also view a separate report which describes the approach taken to develop the weighting strategy (PDF, 868KB) in 2011 when the survey was lauched with an online methodology.
Official Statistics and Partners
The Great Britain Day Visits Survey (GBDVS) is a national consumer survey produced in adherence with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2022) as produced by the Office for Statistics Regulation. VisitEngland jointly sponsor the survey with our partners VisitScotland and Visit Wales. The GBTS also adheres to these principals and is jointly sponsored.
