Inbound trends by UK town
The ONS made revisions to the Q4 2021 data in January 2023. Data on this page and reports have not been updated to reflect these revisions. As soon as we are able we will update this page. For further information please do not hesitate to contact us: VBVEResearch@visitbritain.org.
Find out the top towns for inbound visitors to Britain, as well as how many visits were made by overseas residents to the UK's towns.
The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until the start of 2021. The ONS have made every effort to produce high-quality estimates for the periods when IPS data is not being collected but have not been able to produce a full set of results. See the 2020 inbound page for more information.
The 2021 data is ‘incomplete’ as Eurotunnel data was unavailable for the entire year (Eurostar data was not affected) and Dover data was only included from Q3. Pseudo records for the Irish land border were also removed in 2021. More info can be found on the 2021 inbound page.
You can access the 2021 towns data an alternative format in this excel table showing the 20 most visited towns and cities by visitors from overseas (XLS, 26.5KB) as far back as 1999.
Read more about 2020 inbound data and 2021 inbound data as well as the latest monthly data for 2022.
Please visit the dedicated pages for national, regional and county data or detailed market information.
Top towns for 'staying visits' by inbound visitors
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town/city | Visits (000s) | Town/city | Visits (000s) | Town/city | Visits (000s) | |
| 1 | London | 21,713 | London | 21,072 | London | 21,708 |
| 2 | Edinburgh | 2,206 | Edinburgh | 2,515 | Edinburgh | 2,194 |
| 3 | Manchester | 1,661 | Manchester | 1,548 | Manchester | 1,432 |
| 4 | Birmingham | 1,112 | Birmingham | 1,119 | Birmingham | 1,109 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 845 | Glasgow | 882 | Glasgow | 855 |
| 6 | Glasgow | 771 | Liverpool | 824 | Liverpool | 836 |
| 7 | Brighton/Hove | 647 | Bristol | 615 | Bristol | 604 |
| 8 | Bristol | 636 | Oxford | 580 | Oxford | 601 |
| 9 | Oxford | 581 | Cambridge | 576 | Cambridge | 572 |
| 10 | Cambridge | 462 | Brighton/Hove | 478 | Brighton/Hove | 509 |
| 11 | Bath | 401 | Cardiff | 376 | Cardiff | 400 |
| 12 | Cardiff | 382 | Bath | 375 | Bath | 392 |
| 13 | Leeds | 338 | Leeds | 352 | York | 345 |
| 14 | York | 297 | Inverness | 322 | Inverness | 320 |
| 15 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 282 | York | 315 | Leeds | 304 |
| 16 | Inverness | 275 | Aberdeen | 244 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 294 |
| 17 | Stratford-upon-Avon | 271 | Nottingham | 236 | Aberdeen | 281 |
| 18 | Nottingham | 245 | Reading | 229 | Nottingham | 262 |
| 19 | Coventry | 245 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 226 | Windsor | 246 |
| 20 | Reading | 237 | Leicester | 218 | Reading | 239 |
Source: International Passenger Survey, Office for National Statistics. Please note that figures are based on small sample sizes for all cities with the exception of London and should therefore be treated with caution.
Detailed data
This Excel document allows you to see how many visitors from overseas went to different towns and cities in the UK. It also shows a breakdown of visits to each town by major overseas markets. You can view visit data for towns by journey purpose, and quarter. Data is available from 2009-2021 (XLS, 13.6MB). Data for many towns is based on small sample sizes, so using 3 or 4 year averages is highly recommended.
Day trips
International Passenger Survey data for towns and cities typically measures staying visits (where visitors stay overnight). This report (PDF, 1.8MB) looks at where inbound visitors to the UK go on day trips, based on an extra question VisitBritain sponsored on the International Passenger Survey in 2016. Read about the top destinations for day trips and characteristics of day trippers.
Related resources
- Discover how to encourage visitors from emerging markets to explore more of Britain (PDF, 2.45MB). Published October 2014
- Investigate the types of area within Britain that potential visitors would like to visit (PDF, 1.51MB), based on results from the 2013 Anholt GfK Nations Brand Index Survey. Published February 2014
- Take a look at our analysis on the regional spread of inbound tourism (PDF, 1.83MB). Published August 2020
- Find out what attracts visitors to go beyond London (PDF, 902KB) and potential barriers to doing so. Published July 2013
- Data is also available for nations, regions and counties, as well as trends by market for the whole of the UK.
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Discover England Fund
- As part of the leisure activities research, the fund has produced a series of market and activities summaries. These summaries provide information about demographic profiles, attitude towards taking a holiday to England, market consideration for each activity and other market profiling insights.
- There are 2 reports that relate to destinations within Britain - London & Major cities (PDF, 1.9MB) and Smaller cities & Towns (PDF, 2.9MB). Published March 2018
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IPS Revision
- Reports on this page published before March 2018 have not been updated with the 2009-2018 revised IPS data. Visit our page for more information about the international passenger survey
