Inbound accommodation research
Each year the International Passenger Survey asks visitors about the type of accommodation that they stayed in whilst visiting Britain.
From 22 May we will be working to update all of the data and documents on this page following the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revision of the International Passenger Survey (IPS) data for 2009-2018 and the released detailed 2019 data. Please be patient as we update these pages or contact the VisitBritain research team if you have any questions- VB/VEResearch@visitbritain.org. Thank you.
Below is a table summarising nights spent by overseas visitors by accommodation type since 2010 (where visitors stayed at least one night).
Download more detailed data including accommodation by journey purpose, country of residence, age and mode of travel back to 2004 (XLS, 12.6MB). Data is available at the regional level towards the bottom of this page.
Please note for 2013 the accommodation categories were reduced therefore the data is not comparable by accommodation category and is available separately. Download the 2013 accommodation data (XLS, 2.7MB).
Accommodation usage - all staying visits
| % of nights by accommodation type | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel/guest house | 49% | 50% | 49% | 51% | 50% | 48% | 50% | 51% | 51% |
| Free guest with relatives or friends | 37% | 36% | 37% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 34% | 33% | 33% |
| Bed & breakfast | 4% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| Rented house/flat | 3% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Hostel/university/school | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Paying guest at family or friends' house | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Own home | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Camping/Caravan | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Holiday village/Centre | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Other | 5% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
Accommodation usage by region in 2018
As with the UK level data, accommodation is available at regional level also. Below is at table summarising nights spent by overseas visitors by accommodation type, by region in 2018.
Download more regional detailed data back to 2001 (XLS, 6.8MB), including visits, nights and spend by accommodation type and journey purpose.
| % of NIGHTS by accommodation type | Hotel | Free guest | B&B | Rented house | Hostel | Paying guest | Own home | Camping | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL ENGLAND | 31% | 44% | 3% | 8% | 8% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 3% |
| London | 42% | 37% | 3% | 7% | 7% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| Rest of England | 20% | 50% | 3% | 8% | 8% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 5% |
| England's North Country | 23% | 51% | 2% | 6% | 7% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 7% |
| Central England | 19% | 54% | 2% | 6% | 9% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 6% |
| Southern England | 19% | 47% | 4% | 11% | 9% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% |
| North East | 17% | 44% | 3% | 2% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 25% |
| North West | 28% | 48% | 2% | 7% | 8% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
| Yorkshire | 18% | 60% | 2% | 7% | 4% | 0% | 4% | 1% | 4% |
| West Midlands | 23% | 54% | 1% | 6% | 6% | 1% | 2% | 0% | 8% |
| East Midlands | 18% | 52% | 1% | 8% | 13% | 2% | 2% | 0% | 4% |
| East of England | 16% | 57% | 2% | 6% | 9% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% |
| South West | 16% | 37% | 5% | 17% | 14% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 5% |
| South East | 22% | 54% | 3% | 7% | 5% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% |
| SCOTLAND | 39% | 32% | 7% | 5% | 8% | 0% | 2% | 3% | 2% |
| WALES | 21% | 44% | 5% | 9% | 6% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 3% |
| NORTHERN IRELAND | 16% | 51% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 26% |
Accommodation reports
- Download detailed data including accommodation by journey purpose, country of residence, age and mode of travel back to 2004 (XLS, 12.6MB)
- Access the 2013 accommodation data (XLS, 2.7MB)
- Download detailed regional detailed data back to 2001 (XLS, 6.8MB)
- View regional data for 2013, with different accommodation categories in this document (XLS, 393KB).
- Read our report on the trends in accommodation usage by overseas visitors (PDF, 1.74MB). Published August 2013
- The England Occupancy Survey (EOS) measures, on a monthly basis, levels of bedroom and bed-space occupancy across the serviced accommodation sector – everything from large hotels to small B&B’s and farmhouses.
Further resources
- For more detailed information on visitors from specific markets, please visit our dedicated markets section.
- For more detailed information on visitors to nations, regions, counties and towns in Britain, please visit our dedicated section.
- Explore our domestic tourism research pages
- To keep up-to-date with all our latest research, sign up to our fortnightly industry newsletter
