Saudi Arabia

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 therefore no data from 2020 is available on the interactive chart below. Interviewing initially began at UK airports at the start of 2021, though the IPS remained suspended at some sea ports and train stations during the year. Data for 2021 and 2022 is also excluded below as there were no interviews at Eurotunnel until July 2022 and data from Dover was only collected from Q3 2021.

Read more about 2020 inbound data, 2021 inbound data, 2022 quarterly data as well as the latest monthly data for 2022.

Global context


Measure	2019
International tourism expenditure (US$bn)	15.1
Global rank for international tourism expenditure	24
Number of outbound visits (m)	9.7
Most visited destination	Kuwait
Most visited destination in Western Europe	United Kingdom

Key demographic and economic data


Measure	2021
Population (m)	35.9
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	48,621
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	1.8
Annual GDP growth (%)	2.9

GCC Market Profile (PDF, 73MB)

Saudi Arabia Market Snapshot (PDF, 1MB)

Saudi Arabia Aviation Profile (PDF, 212KB)

Saudi Arabia COVID-19 Travel Sentiment (PDF, 486KB, Published April 2022)

Find out where visitors from Saudi Arabia reside in their own country (Excel, 176KB, Published in 2016)

Please note that the reports below have not been updated with the 2009-2018 revised IPS data. For more information, please visit about the international passenger survey

Explore the perceived barriers which stop visitors from Saudi Arabia visiting regions outside of London (PDF, 2.46M, Published October 2014)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 4.5953 SAR

As of 8 December 2022

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from Saudi Arabia

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Touch the data points to see the values.

OVERVIEW OF UK VISITOR STATISTICS {{activeYear.name}}

Number of visits

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Total expenditure (GBP)

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Total nights spent

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Average length of stay (Nights)

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Average spend per visit (GBP)

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	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
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Access to Britain from Saudi Arabia


Measure	2019
Weekly aircraft departures	32
Weekly seat capacity	8,738
Airports with direct routes in Saudi Arabia	3
Airports with direct routes in Britain	2

In 2019, 3 airports in Saudi Arabia served 2 airports in Britain: London Heathrow and Manchester
The highest share of departing seats stemmed from the Riyadh to London Heathrow route in 2019
In 2019, the airlines that operated the Saudi Arabia to Britain route are British Airways and Saudia
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 68% reduction in direct seat capacity from Saudi Arabia to the UK in 2020, and 2021 was 61% behind pre-COVID levels
The current reduced rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for Saudi Arabia is £84

Markets

Saudi Arabia