Inbound accommodation research

Each year the International Passenger Survey asks visitors about the type of accommodation that they stayed in whilst visiting Britain.

Below is a table summarising nights spent by overseas visitors by accommodation type since 2011 (where visitors stayed at least one night).

Download more detailed data including accomodation by journey purpose, country of residence, age and mode of travel back to 2004 (XLS, 13.2MB). Data is available at the regional level towards the bottom of this page. 

Please note for 2013 the accomodation categories were reduced therefore the data is not comparable by accomodation category and is available separately.  Download the 2013 accommodation data (XLS, 2.7MB)

Data collected for 2020 was impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and only limited data is available. This is available on the 2020 inbound tourism data page. COVID-19 also affected the 2021 data as interviews were not able to take place at all ports throughout the year. For more information, visit the 2021 inbound page

Accommodation usage - all staying visits

% of nights by accommodation type 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
Hotel/guest house 50% 49% 51% 50% 48% 50% 51% 51%

33%

Free guest 36% 37% 34% 34% 35% 34% 33% 33%

51%

Bed & breakfast 3% 3% 3% 4% 4% 5% 5% 4% 2%
Rented house/flat 3% 3% 4% 4% 4% 5% 5% 6% 5%
Hostel/university/school 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2%
Paying guest 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 0%
Own home 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 3%
Camping/Caravan 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0%
Holiday village/Centre 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Other 5% 5% 6% 6% 7% 6% 6% 6% 8%

Accommodation usage by region in 2021

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 2021.

Download more regional detailed data back to 2001 (XLS, 7.7MB), including visits, nights and spend by accommodation type and journey purpose.

Regional data for 2013, with different accommodation categories can be downloaded in this document (XLS, 481KB).

% of NIGHTS by accommodation type Hotel Free guest B&B Rented house Hostel Paying guest  Own home Camping Other
TOTAL ENGLAND 14% 55% 1% 11% 7% 1% 6% 4% 4%
London 21% 52% 1% 13% 4% 2% 6% 2% 2%
Rest of England 9% 57% 1% 10% 9% 1% 7% 5% 5%
England's North Country 13% 56% 1% 10% 10% 0% 4% 6% 6%
Central England 7% 56% 1% 12% 9% 1% 9% 5% 5%
Southern England 9% 60% 1% 9% 10% 1% 7% 4% 4%
North East 10% 47% 1% 10% 12% 0% 4% 17% 17%
North West 12% 60% 1% 9% 9% 0% 4% 4% 4%
Yorkshire 16% 49% 1% 13% 13% 1% 3% 4% 4%
West Midlands 6% 46% 1% 13% 16% 2% 6% 11% 11%
East Midlands 9% 54% 3% 13% 11% 0% 5% 4% 4%
East of England 6% 63% 1% 11% 4% 0% 13% 2% 2%
South West 10% 58% 1% 8% 10% 0% 8% 4% 4%
South East 8% 60% 1% 9% 10% 2% 6% 4% 4%
SCOTLAND 15% 47% 3% 17% 10% 0% 5% 2% 2%
WALES 9% 67% 0% 4% 7% 1% 8% 2% 2%
NORTHERN IRELAND 12% 83% 0% 1% 0% 0% 3% 1% 1%