You asked
Please provide any data/statistics from the International Passenger Survey looking specifically at:
What were the 15 top destinations in the UK for incoming travellers each year from 2010 to 2017
How many people stayed at least one night in those destinations that year
What were the reasons for visit and the number of people who visited for that reason in each city
What was the average length per stay per each reason for visit in each city and
What were the average accommodation (or total) cost per person per each reason for visit in each city.
We said
Thank you for your request for data from the International Passenger Survey (IPS).
The following link provides data on visits to the UK from overseas for the years 2014-2016. The downloads for each of these years provides information on the destinations of visitors to the UK in Table 4.14:
Further information can be found in earlier editions of Travel trends. Here are links to earlier relevant editions:
The 2018 edition, with final data for 2017, will be published on 20th July 2018.
Please note that we do not hold costs of accommodation separately for visitors to the UK: total costs are collected. Also note that the statistics are collected on the basis of visits, rather than people (one person can make more than one visit in a given year). Otherwise, the additional information you have requested can be obtained from the customer services team of ONS Social Services division. This team provides an ad hoc analysis service. This service is subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate.
If you would like to enquire about our service then please contact socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk
Because this information is available through that route, we consider that s.21(1) Freedom of Information Act applies to this request and the information does not have to be supplied under the Freedom of Information Act. S.21(1) is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest needs to be applied.
If you are able to do your own analyses you could obtain an anonymised IPS dataset from the UK Data Service. Details on costs and how to download the data can be found on their website:
Advice for commercial users -
http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/registration.aspx#/tab-commercial-users
Charges - http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/how-to-access/charges.aspx
You could also conduct analysis using the Travelpac dataset that accompanies the Travel Trends publication:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/leisureandtourism/datasets/travelpac