Inbound visits and spend: annual, UK

On 4 September 2026, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released revised estimates for the International Passenger Survey (IPS) covering the second half of 2024 (Jul-Dec) and in turn 2024 annual estimates. This data is badged as ‘official statistics in development’ following the methodological changes introduced in July 2024. They have published these estimates as part of their development work on improving travel and tourism statistics.  

The improvements in the estimates released today include the addition of pseudo records (modelled data) for freight travelling to the UK (i.e. lorry drivers via sea and tunnel) which are excluded from the survey collection under the new methodology. The freight pseudo records at Dover are included in the total GB/UK figure and overall business visits but are not included in Europe totals. Freight pseudo records at Eurotunnel are included in the total GB/UK figure, overall business visits and in Europe totals. Neither freight records appear in country totals (so countries accounting for a large number of freight visitors will appear lower than they would under the previous methodology), or nation/region totals. The ONS has also implemented other changes such as their approach to calibration, corrections to destination airport and package holiday spend, so the revision in estimates is a combination of all the above. The ONS has published an article outlining these improvements in more detail.  

With the improvements to the IPS statistics published on 4 September 2026, VisitBritain notes: 

• The decline in visit numbers in this data is still present for the second half of 2024, compared to 2023, and is in contrast to several other data sources that we have access to, which suggest growth. 
• The addition of freight pseudo records has provided some level of improvement to the estimates. However, there is a still a notable decline in visits via Dover to Calais in the new IPS data, across different vehicle modes, which suggests there is more to explore here. 
• The pseudo records are not available at the market or nations/regions level so data will still be impacted for those visiting from Eastern Europe and some Western European markets, and those visiting Southern and Central England. 
• The ONS is working to improve travel and tourism statistics and so there are some outstanding areas that still need to be investigated. This includes how the new incorporation of NISRA data into the UK estimates is still inconsistent with previous years, and how the new methodology may be impacting some markets more than others.  

For transparency and completeness for our users, we have provided data in the pivot tables for total GB on this page and for nations and regions. We’re working to update the visualisations with new data and have added a note to webpages where we will update data in due course. VisitBritain has included estimates for the second half of 2024 alongside previous time periods in our pivot tables to provide full year numbers for 2024. However, we urge caution when interpreting these estimates and advise users to note the ONS’ badging of the 2024 data as ‘official statistics in development’. It is important to note that the ONS themselves do not endorse comparisons with previous years due to the methodology change. 

We will continue to work closely with the ONS to understand and address the impact of the methodological changes. In the meantime, users can also explore alternative sources such as the card spending data. To view a timely update on inbound tourism, please see our State of the Nation report.