Card spending data

Inbound data up to June 2026

• Total inbound card spend to Britain grew 1% in June 2026 vs. June 2025. Taking inflation into account, spend was down 2% in real terms. 
• For the first half of 2026 (January to June), inbound spending was 4% higher than 2025 (+1% in real terms).
• Cardholder visits (used as a proxy for inbound visits) fell 4% in June, the first monthly decline of 2026, but remained 2% higher this year-to-date (YTD). 
• Visitors spent more per trip, with average spend reaching £406 in June, up 4% year-on-year (+1% in real terms). However, stay duration averaged 7.5 days in June, down 9% from a year earlier, likely due to a stronger overall performance from European markets compared to long-haul.  
• In June 2026, Brazil (+23%), Italy (+20%) and Spain (+19%) recorded the strongest spend growth.

Domestic data up to June 2026

• The latest card spending data shows that domestic tourism spend declined year-on-year in Q2 (-2%) and in the year-to-date (-1%) in real terms, with inflation accounting for some minor growth in nominal spend during those periods.
• Looking to other sources which report on domestic tourism performance at this time, the number of overnight trips taken in the Domestic sentiment tracker were broadly level in Q2 2026 vs. a year before, however England hotel occupancy in June 2026 declined slightly compared to the year before.
• Data across the three sources certainly suggests a lack of growth in domestic trip taking within Q2 2026, potentially linked to barriers around UK weather, rising cost of living, and personal finances (source: Domestic sentiment tracker).

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.