International Passenger Survey (IPS)

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was first conducted in 1970 and is the prime source of migration data for Great Britain. Around 250,000 interviews are carried out each year representing 0.2 per cent of all travellers as they enter or leave the UK.

The IPS is a continuous, voluntary survey conducted at all principal air and sea routes, including the channel tunnel. Data collected includes: country of visit (for UK residents), country of residence and region of the UK visited (for overseas residents), expenditure, purpose of visit, length of stay, age group, gender, mode of transport, port, year, and quarter of visit.

The resultant figures are grossed up by weighting factors dependant on route and time of year. The figures produced are therefore estimates not exact counts.

Monthly datasets are available six weeks after the end of the month; quarterly datasets are available five months after the end of the quarter; and annual datasets are available approximately ten months after the end of the year.