Inbound visits and spend: quarterly, UK

• Recovery of visits plateaued and remained below pre-pandemic levels in Q3 2023:
  • During Jul-Sep 2023, the UK welcomed 10.9m inbound visits, down 8% vs Q3 2019 but up 9% vs Q3 2022.
  • Year-to-date figures showed visits just behind 2019 at -7% but above 2022 by 31%
• Spend was up in nominal terms but tracked down in real terms vs Q3 2019:
  • Visitors spent £10.1bn in Q3 2023, 10% higher vs Q3 2019 and 11% higher than Q3 2022 (in nominal terms). This was the second highest Q3 on record, just behind inbound spend in Q3 2017. In real terms, visitor spend in Q3 2023 was down 10% vs Q3 2019 and down 7% year to date.
  • The average spend per visit was £927 from July to September 2023, up 20% vs Q3 2019 and up 2% vs Q3 2022 (in nominal terms). In real terms, spend per visit was down 1% vs Q3 2019.
• Nights spent in the UK were just behind pre-pandemic levels:
  • In total, 99.5 nights were spent in the UK by inbound visitors in Q3 2023, just 3% behind pre-pandemic levels (and up 9% vs Q3 2022).
  • Average length of stay in Q3 2023 was 9.2 nights, slightly longer than in Q3 2019 (8.7 nights) but the same as Q3 2022.
  • Average spend per night was £101; higher in nominal terms than in 2019 and 2022 but in real terms, down 7% vs Q3 2019.

In the summary report, you can find further detail by journey purpose and global region. View the nations and regions results.

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.

From January to June 2022, the ONS was unable to restart interviewing at Eurotunnel due to COVID-19 restrictions, so data for those travelling via this port is excluded for this time period. Interviewing at Eurostar was not affected by COVID-19 restrictions during this period. The ONS restarted IPS interviews at all ports from July 2022.

Please see About IPS for further information and the ONS.