Card spending data

Inbound data up to March 2026

• Total inbound spend to Britain grew by 10% in March 2026 vs 2025, with cardholder visits growing by 1%.
• Particularly strong spend growth in March is likely linked to multiple factors including increased spend in Britain from cards registered in the Middle East which has not been reflected in flight arrivals. Earlier dates for Eid and Easter in 2026 may also be contributing to this trend, as well as a strong month for other high spending markets such as Germany and France. Year-to-date spending was up in real terms by 1%, with cardholder visits up by 3%. 
• Average spend per trip grew in real terms in March (+4%) but declined in the YTD by 3%. Length of stay continued to decline YoY in March 2026, down by 9%.
• In March 2026, most spend categories saw growth vs 2025; led by Retail and Fuel.

Domestic data up to March 2026

• The latest card spending data suggests that domestic tourism spend in Q1 2026 was on par with a year earlier in real terms, with inflation accounting for some growth in nominal spend (+3%).
• Looking to other sources which report on domestic tourism performance in this period, we can see a similar trend. The number of overnight trips taken in the Domestic sentiment tracker were broadly level in Q1 2026 vs. a year before, and England hotel occupancy in March 2026 was also on par year-on-year. 
• Data across the three sources suggest that a similar number of trips were taken in Q1 2026 vs. the same period in 2025, with inflation rates pushing up traveller spending on those trips.

VisitBritain/VisitEngland gained access to card spending insights via the ‘Visa Destination Insights’ dashboard. This dashboard offers data on monthly spend by domestic and inbound visitors to Britain in addition to a range of other key metrics designed to uncover visitor spending behaviour. Trends can be analysed by visitor origin, region type, card type, the merchant categories which money was spent on, and more.

Definition of key metrics:

• Spend amount refers to the total spend taking place in an area for a selected period of time.
• Cardholder visits refer to the total unique Visa cards used in transactions within an area for a selected period of time
• Transaction count refers to the total transactions taken place in an area for a selected period of time.
• Average spend per transaction is calculated by dividing total spend by transaction count.
• Average stay duration and average spend per trip are calculated based on identifying ‘visits’ or ‘trips’ where travellers made purchases outside their residence for a period of two days or more. Stay duration is based on the dates of first and last transactions in Britain.

An ‘inbound visitor’ is defined as a cardholder of a Visa card registered outside the UK, who has made purchases within Britain. International cardholders who make purchases in Britain for a period of 3 months or more are excluded as ‘international residents’.

‘Domestic visitors’ used their Visa card outside of their ‘home catchment area’ on at least two consecutive occasions on separate days, with no spend within their home catchment area in-between these occasions (i.e. they stayed overnight). Home catchment area is defined as the place within which an individual makes the highest number of transactions.