GBTS 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 that ran until the end of 2019. Take a read of the methodology and quality report (PDF, 215KB) for more details on the new methodology (including guidance on limitations of comparability with data up until 2019). Find the latest domestic day trip data on the GBDVS 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 GBTS archive page.
The latest reports and data are available here:
Annual data: Great Britian Tourism Survey 2021-2022 summary report (PDF, 3.3MB)
Quarterly data: Great Britain Tourism Survey Q1 2023 summary report (PDF, 2.8MB)
More detailed data covering Q2 2021 – Q1 2023: Pivot Tables GBTS Apri 2021-Mar 2023 (Excel, 4.3MB)
Headlines
| GB |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
January 2023 |
February 2023 |
March 2023 |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits (million) | 25.6 | 7.4 | 8.8 | 7.5 | 23.8 | -7% |
| Spend (£ million) | £6,085 | £2,063 | £2,234 | £2,019 | £6,316 | 4% |
| Nights (million) | 75.2 | 23.8 | 23.3 | 21.2 | 68.3 | -9% |
| ENGLAND |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
January 2023 |
February 2023 |
March 2023 |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
% change vs Q1 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits (million) | 21.9 | 6.2 | 7.6 | 6.4 | 20.3 | -8% |
| Spend (£ million) | £5,168 | £1,764 | £1,888 | £1,683 | £5,335 | 3% |
| Nights (million) | 61.7 | 19.5 | 19.3 | 17.6 | 56.4 | -9% |
In Q1 2023, 23.8 million overnight trips were taken within Great Britain (down 7% vs Q1 2022). Visitors spent a total of £6.3bn in Q1 2023 (up 4% vs Q1 2022) and 68.3 million nights away from home on a trip within Great Britain.
Number of England trips reached 20.3 million in Q1 2023 (down 8% vs Q1 2022). Great Britain visitors spent £5.3bn on their trips (up 3% vs Q1 2022) and 56.4 million nights away from home on a trip in England.
Journey Purpose
Looking at trips in England only, visiting friends and relatives in Q1 2023 represents also 30% share (£1.6bn in value) and pure holidays 28% share of all overnight trips spend in Great Britain by British residents (£1.5bn in value).
Distribution by nation
| Total Trips (million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (JAN-MAR) |
Change vs Q1 2022 |
Q1 2023, share of GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB | 25.6 | 23.8 | -7% | |
| England | 21.9 | 20.3 | -8% | 85% |
| Scotland | 3.1 | 2.7 | -11% | 12% |
| Wales | 1.7 | 1.7 | 4% | 7% |
| Total Spend (£ million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (JAN-MAR) |
Change vs Q1 2022 |
Q1 2023, share of GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB | £6,085 | £6,316 | 4% | |
| England | £5,168 | £5,335 | 3% | 84% |
| Scotland | £665 | £641 | -4% | 10% |
| Wales | £252 | £341 | 35% | 5% |
Of all GB overnight trips in Q1 2023, England’s trip volume share is 85% (20.3 million trips) and trip value share is 84% (£5.3bn in total spend).
Comparing Q1 2023 to Q1 2022, England trip volume decreased by 8%, while total trip value increased by 3%.
Detailed results for Scotland and Wales are published on their websites:
Distribution by English region
| Total trips (million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023, Share of England |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 21.9 | 20.3 | |
| London | 3.4 | 3.2 | 16% |
| Rest of England* | 17.9 | 16.7 | 83% |
| North East | 0.7 (!) | 0.8 (!) | 4% |
| North West | 3.4 | 2.6 | 13% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 2.1 | 2.0 | 10% |
| West Midlands | 1.9 | 1.8 | 9% |
| East Midlands | 1.7 | 1.6 | 8% |
| East of England | 2.0 | 1.5 | 7% |
| South West | 3.3 | 3.1 | 15% |
| South East | 2.9 | 3.3 | 16% |
| Other / unspecified** | 0.7 (!) | 0.3 (!) | 2% |
In Q1 2023, regions with the largest shares of trips to England were South East (16%, equating to 3.3 million trips), London (16%, equating to 3.2 million trips) and South West (14%, equating to 3.1 million trips).
Regions with smallest share of England trips in Q1 2023 were North East (4%, equating to 0.8 million trips) and East of England (7%, equating to 1.5 million trips).
| Total Spend (£ million) |
Q1 2022 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023 (Jan-Mar) |
Q1 2023, Share of England |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | £5,168 | £5,335 | |
| London | £1,060 | £1,002 | 19% |
| Rest of England* | £4,107 | £4,256 | 80% |
| North East | £143 (!) | £159 (!) | 3% |
| North West | £964 | £708 | 13% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £426 | £397 | 7% |
| West Midlands | £317 | £586 | 11% |
| East Midlands | £386 | £387 | 7% |
| East of England | £346 | £309 | 6% |
| South West | £832 | £924 | 17% |
| South East | £602 | £785 | 15% |
| Other / unspecified** | £91 (!) | £76 (!) | 1% |
19% of total trip expenditure was spent in London (£1.0bn) vs 80% in the Rest of England in the first quarter of 2023 (£4.3bn).
Outside London, the regions with largest share are the South West (17%, equating to £0.9bn in trip spend) and the South East (15%, equating to £0.8bn in trip spend).
NOTES:
(!) indicates small base sizes
**Rest of England is SUM of all English regions as main a destination - excluding London and ‘other/unspecified’
** Other/unspecified includes English National Parks, trips where main destination was England but part of trip was outside England and ‘unspecified’.
Details on trip characteristics are available in the GBTS summary report and excel pivot, available at the top of this page.
