VisitBritain

Inbound visits and spend: annual, UK

See the latest annual UK level estimates of the number of visits to the UK, spend by inbound visitors and nights spent in the UK, based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS) released by the Office of National Statistics.

Released on:

13 June 2025

Next release:

to be confirmed

For further information, please contact [email protected].

Report highlights

Provisional estimates suggest that inbound visits were just behind pre-COVID levels in 2024, with moderate growth vs 2023. Spend remained below 2019 and 2023 levels in real terms. These numbers are badged as ‘official statistics in development’ and we urge caution with trend analysis, especially for the second half of the year.

  • Overall, there were 39.2m inbound visits to Great Britain in 2024, just below pre-COVID levels (-4%) but up 3% vs 2023.
  • The first half of the year saw strong growth in visits (11%) although spend was slightly down on 2023’s record. Visits in the second half of the year were 3% down on 2023 in these figures, with spend equalling 2023, although we caution that these are statistics in development and other sources, such as flight bookings data, credit/debit card data, and Home Office data, suggest that inbound arrivals were up on 2023 in the second half of the year.
  • Visitors spent £31.0bn in 2024 which was below 2019 and 2023 when adjusted for inflation, and on par with 2023 in nominal terms.
  • Nights totalled at 288.8m and were on par with 2019 but down by 1% vs 2023.
  • The average length of stay in 2024 remained above 2019 levels but saw a slight decrease vs 2023, whilst average spend per visit and average spend per night tracked lower in real terms vs both comparison years.
  • VFR visits saw record visits in 2024 whilst spend declined YoY, holiday visits and spend were similar to the previous year, whilst business visits and spend were down vs 2019 but saw moderate growth vs 2023.

Please note, the Q3 and Q4 2024 data are badged as ‘official statistics in development’ and estimates are subject to future change as further improvements to the methods are introduced. See the ‘About the survey’ section at the bottom of this page for more detail on caveats to the data. 

See the provisional quarterly results for 2024 by nations and regions.

View the latest report

PDF

IPS Total GB Summary Q3 and Q4 2024 (Published 13 June 2025)

Access the provisional estimates for Q3 and Q4 2024 in our summary report which covers the headlines and distribution by journey purpose, global regions and selected markets.

IPS Total UK/GB pivot tables 2019-Q4 2024 (Published 13 June 2025)

Download the data in Excel and explore the detail in the pre-built pivot tables.

Explore the Total UK inbound data in full

Use our visualisations to see this data in greater depth and clarity. Filter by season, inbound market, purpose, mode, trip duration and nationality.

The data for Q3 and Q4 2024 is not yet available in the visualisation.

Further analysis

States of Residence 2014-2023

Find out where visitors from inbound markets to the UK reside in their own country (2014-2023)

Market growth and rank from 2003-2023

See how inbound markets to the UK rank for different measures such as visits, spend and nights using data from the International Passenger Survey.

Top 50 inbound tourism markets to the UK from 2009-2023

Find out the top 50 inbound markets to the UK ranked by visits, using data from the International Passenger Survey.

Visits and spend from smaller/emerging inbound markets (2005-2023)

See data for smaller inbound markets that visit the UK, using data from the International Passenger Survey.

Accommodation Trends 2004-2023

See where inbound visitors are staying in the UK, using data from the International Passenger Survey.

Long term trends - Tourism Travel Account 1958-2023

See historical trends of inbound and outbound spend to and from the UK.

XLS

Long term trends - Market Trends 1979 - 2023

See historical volume and value trends by inbound market the UK.

Long term trends - Arrivals and Receipts 1964-2023

See historical volume and value trends to the UK.

About the survey

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It covers all major air, sea and tunnel ports, providing detailed information on the numbers and types of visits made by people travelling to and from the UK.

Please note due to the ONS’ ongoing planned improvements to the travel and tourism statistics:

  • Northern Ireland data is not available in this publication due to the changes in how data is being collected for Northern Ireland in 2024. Therefore, 2024 data only covers inbound visits to Great Britain, as opposed to the United Kingdom which is usually reported, and many data points are therefore slightly lower. UK level data will be available in the Travel Trends 2024 publication. This itself only causes a minor impact on the comparability of 2024 data with previous years, as Northern Ireland makes up a small proportion of overall UK inbound visits and spend (c.1%).
  • VisitBritain have made comparisons between 2024 GB totals and 2019/2023 UK totals, but the ONS is not doing so and comparisons between Q3/Q4 2024 data and prior data are not endorsed by the ONS.
  • VisitBritain notes that the decline in visit numbers this data shows for the second half of 2024, compared to 2023, is in contrast to several other data sources that we have access to, which suggest moderate growth. In particular, there is a sharp decline in visits by ferry in the IPS data. We have included trended data for transparency and completeness, but we urge caution when interpreting these estimates and advise users to note the ONS’ badging of the Q3 and Q4 data as ‘official statistics in development’. The ONS will conduct further investigation into the survey design and administrative data used for calibration to better understand this difference.
  • Whilst the IPS data collection method has been harmonised with the Civil Aviation Authority, the data has not yet been incorporated alongside the IPS data, with plans to do so by the Q3 2025 publication.

The ONS are also undertaking a review of the historical data, so previous years data may be subject to marginal change. See the latest IPS data publication and update on improvements to the travel and tourism statistics on the ONS website.

For further information, refer to the About the IPS page.

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